The story of team BENT
by all-haywire
Summary: This story follows Ben Shields, a former huntsman from Atlas who decided to drop out of the Atlesian academy for personal reasons. After an electrical explosion nearly killed him, he was rebuilt by the Atlesian military before he escaped to hide away in Vale. Story contains crude humor, language, and some violence.
1. Quotes and bios for each member of BENT

**6-18-16: All bios are now up for each member of the team.**

The power of will can be a great thing, or it can bring you to ruin. Which outcome befalls you ultimately depends on the user.

Name-Ben Shields

Age-26

Nickname(s)-Steel Soldier, Tin Man, Grimm Machine

Race-Human, Caucasian

Hair color-Brown

Eye color-Grey (left natural), White (right artificial)

Height-6'2" before accident, 6'6" after accident

Weight-190 lbs. before accident, 450 lbs. after accident

Appearance/body traits-Solid build, medium skin tone with a constant red, almost sunburnt colored neck. Very short hair and clean shaven. Ben has several scars throughout his torso from the metal reinforcements embedded under his flesh. As well as a scar on his face, running from his right eye back into his hair.

Attire-Camouflage ball cap that is very dirty and worn out. Shatterproof safety sunglasses that he wears constantly to protect his human eye. A grey, short sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans that are both made from fire resistant material, which he was required to wear back when he was a power dust tech in case of an electrical fire. Ben can't wear shoes with his prosthetics, but he did spray paint his feet in order to make them look like normal black boots at first glance. If it's required that he hides his arms, Ben's normal go-to is a black hoodie and leather work gloves. Though he hates doing so for long periods because it makes him hot and uncomfortable. For armor, Ben has a Kevlar vest with Ice dust woven into the fabric that he wears under his shirt.

Story-As a child, Ben was trained to become a huntsman by his family. Due to an incident with his former team in the Atlesian academy, he dropped out and left to become a power dust technician. One day on a trouble call in Atlas, Ben was forced to fight off a pack of beowolves. During the encounter, he sacrificed himself in an electrical explosion in order to kill the leader of the pack. In doing so, he experienced severe electrical burns that destroyed his arms and legs. Once they found out about him surviving, the Atlesian military faked Ben's death and experimented on his body, ultimately fitting him with combat prosthetics and an AI with the intent of turning him into a living weapon. Ben escaped the lab and hid away in Vale until he was discovered by Beacon Academy.

Personality-Ben doesn't really like people due to his experiences with his former team, family, and getting experimented on in Atlas. It's hard for him to trust others, so he tries to do everything himself if he can. Though he may seem brash, rude, and angry to some, he does have a kind heart. Ben hates to see other people get hurt that don't deserve it, so he's willing to throw himself into any kind of danger without hesitation in order to stop or prevent it. Even at the cost of his own life. Although the way that Ben talks and acts may make it seem like he's just a dumb redneck, he is actually quite intelligent. He is also stubborn nearly to the point that it's a curse. When Ben sets his mind to something, it's nearly impossible to dissuade him. A possible flaw that he has, is that Ben is hopelessly attached to his beat up, old camouflage hat. It survived his electrical encounter with him, and is the only thing he has left that ties him to his former life.

Weapon-His prosthetics are made out of an experimental metal that is non magnetic and extremely resilient. The arms have three grappling claws housed within the forearms that can rotate out on a hinge at the wrist. The actual claws have dull edges for grabbing things, and only the tips are relatively sharp. They can also be detached and thrown with a winch line keeping him connected to them. The legs have ram bolts in the heels that Ben can drive into the ground to stabilize himself. With a full charge from dust, Ben has a lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds with a limited shock load rating of nearly double that. Running off of his semblance alone only allows him to run at five percent of that capacity rating.

Extra equipment-Apollo, the AI housed within his artificial right eye that is supposed to help Ben run his prosthetics has become self aware, and has the ability to control his body for a short time if Ben becomes incapacitated for any reason. Although Apollo is a learning program and he's continuously attempting to be more "human-like", he has a long way to go, and Ben isn't exactly the best example to learn from. When Ben uses Apollo, his eye tends to glow red the more his abilities are utilized. Which is another reason he wears sunglasses all the time, as the glowing red eye tends to be quite unsettling to people.

Semblance-Electricity, Ben is able to generate electricity which he uses to power his body in lieu of the Thunder Dust that it was designed to be powered by.

Strengths-Ben's body is more resilient than a normal person, not only did it help him withstand electricity crossing over his heart, but diseases and toxins barely affect him. He is adept at the use of several different weapons, but never mastered a single type. He excels at improvising in combat, working with machinery, and he can operate nearly any piece of equipment that he comes into contact with. Ben also has a gift for getting along with animals, which impressed Ronnie Brooks enough to give Ben a job when he tamed the formerly aggressive shop dog named Casa when they first met.

Weaknesses-Ben could die if he completely runs out of power, and prolonged fighting drains his energy faster. His body requires so much of his aura to move that he can't spare any for protection as a normal huntsman would. He refuses to show it, but Ben is in constant pain because of his replacement limbs and metal running throughout his body to support them. He doesn't really understand it yet, but Ben has a bit of PTSD towards Beowolves due to the attack that changed his life forever.

Fighting style-Mostly hand to hand combat, he usually resorts to boxing strikes and grappling moves. Ben's prosthetics don't allow for much flexibility so kicks are rare, but planting a boot into someone's midsection, chest, or face if he can reach it, is a common occurrence. If there is a makeshift melee weapon that he can pick up, Ben prefers to go into a fight starting with that in order to keep from using his grapples right away and using up more energy in doing so. For ranged attacks, Ben is willing to throw anything that he can pick up, with the AI within his eye helping with trajectory. He can also use his grapples with the winch lines extended as if they were makeshift maces.

Likes-His hat, working on things, heavy metal music, animals, operating heavy machinery, driving, necessary violence.

Dislikes-Losing his hat, people in general, technology, mages and magic, flying, unnecessary violence.

* * *

Desire is good and all, but the cold hard fact of the world is that it can only carry you so far. Pushing on through adversity will require much more than desire alone.

Name-Evangeline (Eve) Weyhart

Age-22

Nickname(s)-Runt, Foxy

Race-Fox Faunus, Caucasian

Hair color-Amber with white tips

Eye color-Red

Height-4'10"

Weight-95 lbs

Appearance/body traits-Fair skinned. Thin and petite. Straight, hip length hair.

Attire-A bright red T-shirt and dark blue jeans that both fit tight enough to not snag easily, and loose enough to allow fluid movement. Eve also wears a combat vest left over from her father's time in The White Fang, but with the symbol removed and clips for Twain del Sole's sheath on the back. Contained within it's pockets are ammo for her swords, as well as anything else she deems important enough to carry. For shoes, Eve prefers her red and white high top sneakers for their light weight and ankle support in combat.

Story-Eve's parents initially raised her to join and fight in The White Fang until they decided to leave the organization. Her mother continued Eve's training with Twain del Sole, knowing that she would face hardships and discrimination from the rest of the world. Her parents died in a car accident a few years ago, though she is convinced that The White Fang had something to do with it. Even after her parents were gone, Eve diligently continued her training as a way to keep their memory alive. She works very hard to keep a roof over her sister's head as well as save up money to join Beacon Academy and become a huntress, a dream that may be expedited thanks to Ben Shields.

Personality-Eve is short tempered and impatient, as well as mischievous and prone to pranking people when she feels the need. Despite this, she is a very caring individual, driven by her desire to keep others happy and safe. She is also unafraid of speaking her mind, no matter what. Eve is a very good judge of character, and can read people quite well. This may be partially due to her heightened senses as a faunus. She is still tormented by the loss of her parents to this day, though she won't reveal that fact to anyone, not even her sister. Sometimes, when Eve is training alone with Twain del Sole, she can become overwhelmed by rage or sadness over their deaths, occasionally cursing herself for not being able to do anything to prevent it.

Weapon-Twain del Sole, a blade that resembles a Roman curved sword that is straight for most of its length and has a curve at the tip. The straight edge of the blade can be removed from the main unit, giving her two swords that can be charged with fire dust in the short blade, and ice dust in the long one.

Semblance-Unknown.

Strengths- Her hearing, sense of smell, and eyesight are very acute, and her small size allows Eve to move very quickly. Those facts combined with her weapon make her an extremely capable fighter.

Weaknesses- Unfortunately, Eve has focused so much on her weapon that she is merely adequate without it. Her physical strength is limited due to her small size. Loud noises, bright lights, or overpowering smells can stun or cause her pain.

Fighting style-Eve prefers close range fighting while dual wielding her weapon. While the blades are already quite sharp, utilizing fire dust in the short blade makes it able to cut through nearly anything. Although she isn't very strong, Eve uses her superior speed and agility to avoid taking damage. She also twirls her body often while striking in order to build momentum and hit harder. For ranged attacks, she can launch fireballs and ice spears with each blade.

Likes-Pranks, seeing people happy, hearing a person's laugh, singing, exercise.

Dislikes-Being reminded that she's little, seeing someone hurt, loud noises, rude people, being ignored.

* * *

Curiosity killed the cat, or so they say. Though it has also paved the way for many problem solvers of this world.

Name-Nina Weyhart (formerly Nina Stone)

Age-20

Nickname(s)-None.

Race-Human, Caucasian.

Hair color-Black

Eye color-Blue.

Height-6'-1"

Weight-140 lbs

Appearance/body traits-Pale skinned from too much time spent indoors. Tall and athletic build that she is quite self conscious about. Her hair would be shoulder length if she took care of it, but since she doesn't, it jets out wildly in every direction. Nina has a scar running down the right side of her ribcage to her abdomen from a wound she received when her parents were killed. She constantly hides it, mainly from herself, and Eve is the only other person who knows about it.

Attire-A black, loose fitting tank top and short jean shorts. She also likes wearing dark blue, knee high socks with black high top boots. Nina's glasses have a fairly thick black frame that hides the wiring and lens projection devices linked to her weapon's scope. She constantly carries a small, dark blue backpack that seems to have everything for any situation hidden within it.

Story-Nina was orphaned at a very young age because of a White Fang attack. The Weyharts found her wandering amidst the ruins of the attack and adopted her when it was discovered that her parents had been killed. Although she was very young when it happened, from time to time something will trigger visions of what she experienced the day her parents were killed.

Personality- Nina has trouble dealing with strangers, so she tries to remain isolated in her sister's apartment where she works on electronics for other people in their building in order to help Eve pay the bills. Meeting Ben was easier than other people not only because he's a friend of Eve's, but she also thinks of him and his prosthetics as something that fascinates her. Even though her semblance does it for her, Nina loves to take things apart and see how they work. She thinks of troubleshooting things as a kind of therapy, where she can forget about her troubles and get lost in her work and the music in her headphones.

Weapon-Marxie. An Atlesian Marx rifle that she earned during the team's initiation exam. Nina took the liberty of completely reworking the rifle and a 100 round drum magazine to be able to modify the bullets that she shoots using dust. The bullets can be as soft as rubber, or hard enough to pierce armor. She also modified a scope and linked it to her glasses, which increased her already impressive accuracy as well as gave her thermal and night vision through the scope. The final touch would be a collapsible motorized stand mounted on the underside of the rifle that can be driven into the ground, turning it into a remote controlled surveillance unit or turret.

Semblance-Analysis. Nina can disassemble and examine nearly anything in her head without even touching it. A skill that she normally uses on the electronics she fixes. This also allows her to learn at an accelerated rate. When she applied it to shooting, Nina went from being a novice to an expert marksman nearly instantly.

Strengths-Nina can come up with a plan for nearly any situation if she gets the chance to analyze what's going on. She is unusually strong and athletic, despite her lack of actual training or working out. If Nina were to focus all of her attention on something, there is nothing she can't do. Unfortunately, she easily gets distracted or bored with what she's working on if it doesn't keep her entertained.

Weaknesses-If she doesn't get the chance to analyze something, Nina can't come up with a course of action to overcome it easily. Due to the fact that she is fairly uncoordinated and clumsy, Nina has a problem with close quarters combat. If she were to run out of ammo, Nina would be nearly defenseless. Which is why she makes every shot count.

Fighting style-Entirely long ranged, relying on her rifle to inflict sufficient damage before a threat gets close enough to attack. Nina's unusual amount of strength and athleticism greatly aids her in climbing to higher ground for a better view, or to escape a foe.

Likes-Technology, taking things apart and modifying them, loud music

Dislikes-Getting pranked by Eve, not getting to take something apart, strangers

* * *

In order to move forward, one needs to overcome their past. A task that is easier said than done for some individuals.

Name-Tanner Braun

Age-24

Nickname(s)-The Predator, Ultimate Hunter

Race-Human, Native American

Hair color-Black

Eye color-Brown

Height-5'6"

Weight-200 lbs

Appearance/body traits-Dark skinned with shoulder length black hair that he keeps in a ponytail. Short with a stocky build.

Attire-A military grade camouflage uniform with chest and shoulder armor that can change and blend to his surroundings depending on how Tanner uses his semblance. The suit defaults to forest camo when he doesn't modify it. He wears hand made thin soled combat boots that are incredibly light and almost completely silent when he moves, even without his semblance aiding him.

Story-Tanner comes from a long line of avid outdoors enthusiasts and big game hunters. He is the first member in the history of his family to become an official huntsman using the skills that were intended for hunting wild game. Tanner chose to become a huntsman after being saved by one as a child when his camp was attacked by a group of boarbatusks during a hunting trip. He had a promising future ahead of him as the leader of his first team, until a mission to track down and detain the ever-elusive criminal threat known as Scraw was handed to Tanner due to his incredible tracking and hunting skills. Tanner led his team as well as another team that they were friends with in an attack on Scraw when he felt they were ready. In short, they weren't. Scraw single handedly massacred Tanner's friends, leaving him as the sole survivor and witness to everything that transpired that night. Ever since then, Tanner has been distant and withdrawn from other huntsmen. Ozpin only recently brought him back into active duty, having him do solo missions and help with training prospective huntsmen.

Personality-What might come as a surprise considering his upbringing, is the fact that Tanner is opposed to killing anything other than Creatures of Grimm. He feels that his superior hunting skills and semblance make it unfair to his prey. Instead, Tanner spent most of his personal hunts sneaking up on many predatory creatures that most would consider impossible to catch unaware. As a huntsman Tanner is very driven and determined, incredibly proud of his accomplishments. He always wants things done by the book, or according to the plan. Unfortunately those traits make him hard to get along with. He hasn't even attempted to make any new friends since he lost his original group to Scraw. Ozpin pretty much had to drag him kicking and screaming into helping out with Ben's team. Tanner knows that Ozpin is trying to get him reacquainted with working with others and he wants no part of it. In Tanner's mind, nobody can replace his old team and he would rather work alone for the rest of his career.

Weapon-Silent Wind. A long bow with a high tensile steel string running continuously through the bow handle with a motor that can turn it into a cutting saw when activated. He also uses the motor to pull on any snare traps that he sets up. Aside from normal arrows, Tanner also carries launchable snare traps, concussion arrows, tranquilizer darts, and smoke bombs.

Extra equipment-Tanner owns an enduro motorcycle which is essentially a cross between a street bike and a dirt bike. It's electric, which makes it lighter than a normal bike and nearly silent. Which allows him to quickly and quietly traverse rough terrain when the need arises.

Semblance-Stalker. Tanner can use the protective aura around his body to reflect his surroundings, essentially making him nearly invisible. He can also use it to mask his scent, and render his movement completely silent.

Strengths-While using his semblance, Tanner can easily get close to anyone or anything without them knowing, even dangerous predatory animals that most would consider impossible to get close to. His ability to quickly and silently traverse any environment is unmatched. He is also incredibly strong, as well as quite nimble thanks to his small stature. The combination of his strength and Silent Wind's tightly drawn string allows Tanner to pierce armor plating with his arrows.

Weaknesses-His intense focus and drive tends to leave Tanner with a bad case of tunnel vision when he is focused on a task, which can leave him unable to see the big picture sometimes. Ever since he lost his team, Tanner has become withdrawn and antisocial. Even showing a large amount of disdain for other people on many occasions. Professor Ozpin is hoping to remedy this by teaming him up with Ben, Eve, and Nina.

Fighting style-Close to mid range. Although he is an accomplished marksman with his bow, Tanner often resorts to using the bow itself as if it were a fighting staff. When the situation calls for it, he is also proficient in stealth takedowns using his bare hands.

Likes-Camping, exploring wooded areas, reading, leather working, and sneaking up on Ben to scare him.

Dislikes-Foul language, insubordination, crude behavior, pretty much everything that Ben is.


	2. Chapter 1, A former life

Ben Shields watched the rural countryside of Atlas pass through his headlights as he bounced his truck down a rough trail toward his destination.

Ben is 23, six foot two and 190 lbs, clean shaven with short brown hair. He is a dust power technician, trained in how to use dust in various ways to provide utility services to customers. His main role as the lead technician on this trip is to handle what is known as Thunder Dust, a volatile combination of the dust elements that, when harnessed correctly with distribution equipment, can provide power for homes and businesses connected to the distribution stations. But when handled improperly, even a small amount of Thunder Dust can cause an electrical explosion equal to or even greater than the force of a naturally occurring lightning strike.

Ben and his 19 year old apprentice, Sammy Rokes, were on their way to investigate what knocked the power out to one of the feeders coming from the distribution station farthest to the South on his company's system.

"Hey Ben, what do you think we're gonna find?" The sudden question snapped him back to the task at hand, Ben scratched his head through his ever-present camo ball cap as he thought.

"You haven't been to this station yet, have you?"

"Nope, I've only been here a few months man. This is my first outage run with anyone."

"That station is one of the oldest ones we have. There's not much room between the support steel and the wires, I bet a bird tried to build a nest on a rack and stood up or spread its wings into the wire. Happens all the time, damned thing needs rebuilt."

"I see, you're not nervous? How long have you been doing this?"

Ben thought for a moment, "Well, I started at 18, so a little over five years now. Completed my apprenticeship a couple years back."

Sammy thought for a moment. "Holy crap! You're only 23? I figured you were closer to 30."

Ben slammed on the brakes "The fuck are you sayin' kid?! You callin' me old?!"

Sam's eyes went wide "NO, NO, I didn't mean..." Ben smirked, then started laughing.

"Don't worry about it, I get that all the time. I guess you grow up quick when you have to learn to handle a force of nature."

"Force of nature?"

"Yeah, the dust that we have in the recharge canisters in the back contains the force of a lightning storm. We have enough loaded up here to power a town for a month, or reduce us to a memory if I screw up." Ben chuckled, Sam just went silent.

"Aww don't worry, I won't screw up. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't skilled with this stuff."

Sam laughed nervously. "Alright man, if you say so. I just never realized just how powerful this stuff was."

"That's why you're here, so you can learn as well as watch my back as I work. Now I'll need you paying attention, it's just past that row of trees there."

"10-4 boss, I got your back."

They pulled up to the gate, Sam got out and unlocked it and Ben pulled in. He hopped out, drew his flashlight, and started walking to the breaker that was knocked off. He walked around the racks to check out the control panel, and then his light passed over something that caused him to freeze. "Aw shit."

Sam jogged up, "What's up boss... oh."

Both men stared at the black residue that covered the bushings of the breaker station.

"Well, I was almost right. We do have a critter problem. It's just not a cute little bird like I figured."

"What the hell is that, Ben?

"By the size and shape of the outline, I'd say that's a young beowolf."

Sam stepped back, "W-whoa, no, no, no, hell no. You're telling me there are grimm out here? That's impossible, the huntsmen are supposed to kill them, and what the hell would make one get in here?"

Ben shrugged. "I don't know how some have gotten past the huntsmen, but like I said, it looks like it was young, probably curious. The humming machinery attracted it, then he hopped the fence into the station, and climbed on the breaker station where he met his end. Their bodies dissolve, that's what left behind the black stuff."

"Neat lesson boss, now shouldn't we be like, oh, I dunno, RUNNING FOR THE FUCKING HILLS?! There are beowolves nearby! You know, creatures of death and darkness more than happy to fuck our shit up! I mean, we're not trained or equipped to protect ourselves from them, I don't want to die out here..."

"ENOUGH!" Ben roared, when he'd had enough of Sam's nervous rambling. Sam recoiled, his mouth slightly agape.

Ben sighed, "I know that they could be out there, maybe even nearby, watching us. But I'm betting that they're making their way to the village that currently has no power because of this feeder being knocked off. Each home with a family huddled in the dark, afraid. Grimm are attracted to fear, ya know? A village full of people that are afraid is like ringing the dinner bell for them. We NEED to get the power back on for them. Their defenses won't last thirty minutes without it."

"W-well then, can't we engage the breaker and get the hell out of here?"

"We wish, the power will just jump across the bushings and blow the breaker if we energize it without cleaning the residue off. We also need to hook the truck up to the converter and recharge it, it used up a lot of dust when it took the hit."

Sam deflated. "Oh. That sucks."

"Indeed it does, now if you're quite done pissing yourself, get in the control house and kick on the perimeter and station lights. I'll try the radio and see if we can warn that village and maybe get a huntsman or two out here to watch our backs."

Sam turned and sighed "Yeah boss." as he walked off.

Ben also sighed, shook his head, and walked to the truck. "What a night this turned out to be."

He hopped in, changed the channel, and reached for the transmitter. "Shields to Dekae village, anyone respond."

Ben waited, and squinted as the lights kicked on in the station, then tried again. "Shields to Dekae village, this is an emergency, anyone respond."

He stared at the radio, and then it crackled to life with an old man's voice. "This is Huntsman Outpost 101 responding to the emergency hail. This channel is designated for emergency use only, state your purpose, we're on generators here so it'd better be good."

Ben shook his head and thought. 'The fuck you think I'm callin' for? I ain't ordering a pizza here.'

He hit the transmitter. "I'm Ben Shields from Atlas Power and I only have time to say this once." Ben then told them about what caused the power outage and the possible beowolves heading their way, and then he waited for a response for what seemed like forever. Finally, the radio came back to life as Sam walked up.

"Ben Shields… You're Roy Shields' boy aren't you?"

"That'd be me, sir."

"Son, if anyone else had spun me the yarn that you just did, I would have tracked them down and rammed my foot so far up their ass that I would have stepped on their brain. I knew your granddad, and your old man and your mother went to the academy with my boy. Your family has produced some of the best huntsmen around, so if you're saying we have a problem headed our way, then I believe it."

"Thank you for that sir, now I'm gonna get to work on this station to get your power back on for your defenses. I don't suppose you can send a huntsman or two our way to watch our backs?"

"I wish I could, but with our electric fences and lights down, it's gonna be all hands on deck makin' sure we can keep the grimm out of the village. I'm sorry son, but you're on your own at least until the power's on"

Ben looked at Sam, who slumped down against the truck at that news. "I understand sir, you do your job and I'll do mine. Good hunting."

The radio came alive again, but this time before the old huntsman spoke there were voices in the background and the sound of people gathering weapons. "Good luck to you too, Ben. It's a shame you didn't become a huntsman yourself. Dekae 101 out."

He put the transmitter back and fired up the truck. "Yeah, heard that one before. Alright Sam, let's get to work. We need to ground the breaker so we can get on it to clean it. Then we'll hook the truck up to it and close the thing in while it's charging."

Sam got back up, and Ben moved the truck closer to the breaker station to start their work. Shortly after, both men were on the station with cleaning alcohol and rags, quickly trying to remove the stubborn black residue from the equipment.

"Ben, that old huntsman on the radio… it sounded like he knew you somehow. What was that all about?"

Ben paused his work for a moment, then resumed as he talked. "My family has been producing huntsmen and huntresses for generations. Every one of us chose that path… except for me, I'm the stray dog of the whole lot."

"So that's how you know so much about the grimm."

"Yeah, from the time that we can walk, we start training to fight them, and I was no exception."

"May I ask why you didn't become a huntsman?"

"Believe it or not, I'm not much of a people person. `Doesn't play well with others' pretty much sums it up, especially when I butted heads with people who claimed to be heroes and saviors, but suddenly forgot their role when it came to faunus folks and the like. Eventually, I felt that my skills would be better suited for this kind of work. I'm good with machines and equipment."

"How'd your family take that decision?"

"Not too well, we haven't spoken since I left the academy and applied to be a power dust technician."

"Oh, it was that big of a deal huh."

"Yup, generations of great and legendary heroes and I'm the stray dog that breaks the cycle."

Sam stared at Ben, who kept working without missing a beat. Then he resumed as well. The two continued their work in awkward silence. About twenty minutes passed before they were finally done cleaning.

"Alright Sam, pull off the grounds and I'll get the truck hooked up to charge."

Sam complied as Ben donned his insulated gloves and sleeves, then he tied the truck to the grounding grid and grabbed the transfer line to hook it up to the breaker. Once everything was hooked up and Sam was in the clear, he slowly cracked the discharge valve and started the charging process.

"Stay clear Sam, I'll have to time this just right to make sure we have enough charge to close in the breaker without it firing off."

"Ok boss." Sam said as he ducked behind the truck.

Ben waited a few seconds. "Here goes nothing." Then he hit the control to activate it. The breaker station shook for a couple seconds, then it quieted down to a steady hum and they could see lights come on in the direction that the village was located.

"Way to go, boss!"

Ben let out a sigh of relief as he shed his insulated gloves and sleeves. "See, I told you I was good with this stuff. We ain't out of the woods yet, the truck needs to keep charging the station for at least ten more minutes for it to be able to sustain itself or it'll open up again and we'll be back to square one."

"Yeah but their power is back on, they should be able to wipe out all of the grimm, right?"

"It'll help, but it's not that easy. Now let's just sit tight and-" Ben was cut off by the radio crackling to life with a familiar voice.

"Dekae 101 to Shields, respond!"

Ben ran up to the truck. "Go ahead for Shields."

"Ben, the power's back on here, you've given us the upper hand. We're taking them down as best we can but I gotta warn you son, some of the grimm are falling back into the woods and heading your way. You need to get out of there, now!"

A howl was heard in the distance, Ben cursed under his breath and looked at Sam, whose eyes went wide with terror. He paused for a moment. "Thanks for the warning sir, but I can't do that. If I unhook this truck too soon, you guys will be right back to fighting in the dark, and we both know how that'll end."

"I don't know if you grasp the gravity of the situation, son. There is no cavalry coming to help you, we've got every able bodied fighter tied up here doing all we can to protect this village."

Ben turned to Sam again. "I'm sorry for this, Sammy." Then he hit the transmitter.

"I read you loud and clear, sir. It's just my apprentice and I out here. Two lives don't mean squat compared to a village. You do what you have to, to keep your people safe. I'll do what I can to keep us safe until we can head out without screwing you over. I went through just as much training as any of your huntsmen have had, I'll hold them off."

There was silence… then the old huntsman finally responded. "You Shields are as crazy and bull headed as they come, as soon as we have our pack cleared out I'm sending people to your location. You make sure we don't find bodies when we get there, ya hear? Good hunting, son."

"Thank you sir, Shields out."

Ben replaced the transmitter on the dash, and Sam exploded. "WHAT THE FUCK BEN! Who the hell are you to decide that we stay here to die? I didn't sign up for this, I don't want to die." Sam crumpled to the ground in the fetal position next to the truck.

Ben wasn't listening, he was already digging behind the seat for a rifle case that he keeps for an emergency such as this. He knew that grimm encounters are always a possibility. He retrieved it and laid it on the ground. He pulled out and loaded a shotgun, two large revolvers, and a machete. He then slung the machete across his back, attached a leg holster to his thigh and holstered one revolver. Ben scooped up the remaining pistol and walked over to kneel next to Sam.

"Sam, look at me." He pulled his head from his hands and met Ben's intense grey eyes.

"I wish I had something inspirational to tell you, but I don't. We've got about two minutes before we've got beowolves jumping that fence. You ever shot a gun before?"

"N-no."

Ben sighed, "It's easy, make sure the safety's off, point it away from you and pull the trigger. This thing shoots small shotgun shells with buckshot in them, so it's hard to miss with it, but you only shoot if it's your last option. Now I want you to lock yourself in that control house and don't come out until there are humans knocking on the door."

"Can't we both hide in there?"

"No, they'll tear the walls down to get to us and we'll be trapped. Now get your skinny ass in that control house, I'll kill 'em all if I have to in order to keep you safe, now go!" Ben picked Sam up from the ground by his shirt, handed him the gun, and shoved him toward the building. He watched as Sam walked in, looked back quickly, then he shut the door behind him.

"Alright, time to get to work." Ben walked back to the truck and retrieved the shotgun, then checked it over and filled his pockets with ammo and speed loaders. It wasn't long before he heard the growling and movements of the beasts that were coming for him from just beyond the fence. He pulled his hat down low and put on his leather work gloves. With the perimeter and station lights on, it was bright enough for him to put on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from debris. He could see the red eyes in the trees, just beyond the reach of the light.

"Let's get this over with, I don't have all night."

The first one lunged out of the darkness, baring its teeth at Ben through the fence. He quickly stepped forward, took a knee, and sent a slug through the beast's mouth. Two more followed, not hesitating as the first one did and they jumped the fence. Ben caught one center mass at the top of the fence, then the other one through the eye when it landed.

He stood up and stepped back as a much larger beowolf than the others charged up and crashed through the gate. It took the remaining three rounds in his shotgun to bring that one down. Ben reached in his pocket for more rounds, but he only managed to load four shells before two charged through the destroyed gate and three more jumped the fence behind him.

Ben took down one of the broken gate chargers but had to spin to dodge the second. He now had the remaining four in his sights. The one he dodged turned to face him and he blew a hole in the side of its chest. The three that jumped the fence had closed the gap, he jacked another shell and fired at one but missed. He barely had enough time to jack the last round, fire, and jump out of the way of the lifeless body as it lunged past.

He jammed the empty shotgun sideways in the next one's mouth as it tackled him to the ground. The last beowolf split off and charged at the control house. "NO!" Ben struggled with the weight of the beast on top of him, jaws snapping again and again around the empty gun. Ben pulled his leg up and placed his boot squarely in its chest. He shoved with all of his strength but barely lifted the beowolf off of him. It was all he needed to get to his revolver, he pulled the shotgun from the beast's mouth and replaced it with the barrel of the pistol then blew its head off.

He shoved the disintegrating body off and turned to the control house where he saw the last beowolf clawing holes into the door. He charged at the beast unloading three rounds from the pistol into it as he ran, it stumbled sideways but stayed up, the smaller buckshot rounds weren't as effective as the shotgun slugs. Ben still had the empty shotgun in his other hand as he charged forward and cracked the wounded beowolf in the skull, effectively knocking it down but he also broke the gun in half where the last one had chewed on the stock. He tossed it, moved in close and shot the last round up through its chin.

"Ben, you're bleeding!" He turned to see a wide eyed Sam in the now open doorway. He looked down and confirmed it as well, the one that took him to the ground managed to get a couple swipes in on his chest with its claws.

"I know, now what the hell did I tell you? Get your ass back in there!" Ben grabbed a speed loader and reloaded his pistol.

"That was amazing! I thought you were full of shit but you're the real deal."

"I said get back in there, there's more on the way!" Ben ran to the door and shoved Sam inside, he then slammed the door and turned to find two more beowolves running through the open gate.

He looked down at his pistol and sighed, "Figured these would work better, guess it's time for close quarters." He then drew his machete with his other hand and stepped toward the oncoming threat.

The first one swiped at him, but he ducked and drove the machete into its side, under the ribs. He pierced a lung and wounded it, the second moved in and he couldn't remove the blade so he let go. It swung at him but he ducked again and hammered two rounds into the beast's arm. It swung back and backhanded Ben, he was tossed to the truck, where he tumbled over the side and landed in the bed.

"Damn, that could have gone better." He rubbed his head and adjusted his cap. He tried to shake the fuzziness from his vision and looked around. The pistol had been lost in the hit, but he saw that he had landed on the case that contained his chainsaw that he used to clear trees to run power lines.

"Whelp, it's better than nothing." He then opened the case and drop started the saw as he stood up and jumped out of the truck. The beowolf that hit him was already there and swiped at him again, but he ran the saw at full throttle and brought it up to block, cutting off the fingers and claws of its hand. With a fluid movement, he turned and ran it up the beast's body.

The wounded beowolf with his blade still in it attacked, Ben swung the saw but the heavy machine was too slow. It dodged and his saw bounced off of a steel rack, breaking the chain. "Damn!" He dropped the saw and scooped up the broken chain, wrapping it around his gloved right hand with the blades facing outward as he put some distance between them.

He brought his fists up and charged in close, he deflected one strike and went in to deliver body blows. It brought its fangs down to snap at him but he grabbed it by the nose and drove the blades into its eyes. He saw the handle of his machete still in its side, he grabbed and turned it as he yanked it out. The beowolf roared in pain, and then Ben rammed his blade into its chest, not missing the heart this time.

"Damn." Ben took a knee, exhausted. He looked around, and didn't see any more in the station. He stood up, yanked his machete from the disintegrating corpse, and looked to the forest for the red eyes, and saw none. He took a step and stumbled, but caught himself on a metal rack. He had lost a lot of blood from his chest wounds.

"Man, I got my ass handed to me." He stood upright again, took a deep breath, and started walking toward the control house. He froze when he saw it, one red eye moving toward the station. Finally, it stepped into the light. A very large beowolf with one eye, several spikes and scars covering its body slowly made its way through the gate.

"Oh great, you must be the pack leader huh? Waiting in the shadows for the rest of them to wear me down. You've learned well." He sucked in a breath, looked at his wounds, and looked up. "C'mon now, show me what you've got." He put up his right fist wrapped with the saw blade and readied the machete in the other.

The beast paused for a moment and studied Ben, and then it launched itself at him at a speed that seemed impossible for something its size. He barely rolled out of its path as it flew past him, but it doubled back and swung at him. Ben brought his blade up and braced for the hit, but it was more than his body could handle. His right arm that he braced the top of the machete with broke and allowed the claw to strike him on the side of his head. The impact threw him back to the truck, which he bounced off of and hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Ben coughed. "Oww…" He tried to get up, but immediately fell on his face when his arm buckled sideways. He couldn't see out of his right eye anymore, but as he looked down with his left eye he saw that somehow the machete was still clutched in his left hand. The old man's words repeated in his mind. 'You Shields are as crazy and bull headed as they come.'

Ben smiled. "You don't know the half of it, old man. Stubborn is how we're built." He stabbed the machete into the ground and hoisted himself up with it. He was almost to his feet when the beowolf charged and rammed its claws through his right shoulder and into the side of the truck, piercing it. The impact rocked the truck and knocked the transfer line loose. Ben howled and writhed in pain.

"BEN, NO!"

'That voice, who was that? Why can't I move?' Ben thought.

"BEN!" A gunshot rang out.

"Sam?" He snapped back to reality, the beowolf was turned toward Sam, who was standing behind it with his pistol up, its barrel smoking. It took a step toward Sam, but it was stopped when it couldn't pull its claw from the side of the truck. It turned back to Ben and raised its other claw to strike him, but as it came down, he rammed his blade through the center of its palm. The beast roared and tried to free its hand but Ben wouldn't let go.

Ben knew he was going to die the second that machete came out of the monster's claw. As the beast thrashed and he tried desperately to keep its claw under his control, he tried to think of a way to kill it. Then he saw it, the transfer line was on the ground, he could feel the static energy coming from the valve on the truck. He knew what his only option was, and he knew it wouldn't be pretty. At least he was disconnected from the breaker and it was sustaining itself.

"Sam! Get behind something, NOW!"

Sam froze. "What are you going to do?"

"Just do it! I can't hold him anymore! Run to that shed and don't you look back."

Sam turned and started running. When Ben felt that he was at a safe distance he matched the beowolf's eye with his own good eye. "I wish I had some witty one liner to give you for your trip to hell, but I guess a good old fashioned fuck you will have to do." He managed to stick up a defiant middle finger to the beast from his hand holding the machete. Then he wrapped his legs around the beowolf's midsection, yanked the blade from its hand and stabbed it into the open valve. The beast froze, it might have even looked afraid as it seemed to know what was happening as an arc erupted from the truck's storage canisters.

And then Ben woke up.


	3. Chapter 2, So tired

Ben woke up. "Damn, always the same dream."

It had been nearly three years now and many things about him have changed. He is a few inches taller as well as much heavier thanks to his replacement limbs. He was in Vale, working in a junkyard. He dozed off under a car that he was working on. Ben rolled out from under it and removed his sunglasses. He reached up to rub his eyes and noticed the wrench in his hand was bent.

"Ugh, not again." He walked toward the sink and bent the wrench straight as he went. He looked down it lengthways to make sure he was satisfied, and then lightly tossed it back to the car. Once he was at the sink he turned the water on and splashed his face. He looked in the mirror once he was done and scowled at the sight as he replaced his glasses, it reminded him of the memory that was haunting his sleep lately.

It was after hours and Ben was starving, so he grabbed his black hoodie, walked out, and locked up the shop behind him. Casa, the big old dog that lived in the yard perked up from his sleeping position as Ben approached and he scratched his ears on the way out of the gate.

There was a small diner a couple blocks away that he liked so he didn't bother driving. It was a quiet afternoon in the city, pleasant even. Ben wasn't exactly the type that enjoyed the scenery though as he steadily walked toward his destination.

"Hey there big guy!" Ben was greeted as he walked in by the only waitress. Eve Weyhart is 22, and she's a rather small girl. A fox eared faunus just under five feet tall with long, reddish blonde hair. She was dressed in her usual jeans and red t-shirt with her apron.

"Hey young lady. How goes it?" Ben said as he seated himself at a booth.

"It's going well, how's my favorite junkyard dog today?"

"Casa's doing great. He's sleeping his life away, must be nice…. Or were you talking about me?"

Eve laughed. "I plead the fifth, what'll it be today? The usual?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Figures, you never mix it up. Always a burger, fries, and a Dr. Piper, don't you ever get tired of that?"

"It's what I like, so no, I don't."

"Whatever you say. I swear you have such boring taste in food." She smiled as she walked away. Ben smiled as well and leaned back in his seat. He watched the people of the city through the window, normal people with normal lives strolling on by, not a care in the world. Ben sighed. "That also must be nice."

He leaned forward and placed his head in his gloved hands, he was so tired. The dreams have been keeping him from getting a good night's sleep for a couple weeks now. He was just about to doze off again when a plate was slid in front of him. "Here ya go, one plain ol' burger and here's your Dr. Piper." Eve said as she placed his glass down and took a seat across from him.

Ben looked up and found her piercing red eyes staring back at him. Unfazed, he grabbed his food and started eating. Once his first bite was down, he spoke. "Ya know, your stare kinda burns a little when you focus it for that long." He took another bite.

"Why do you always wear those?"

"Wear what?"

"The hat, sunglasses, and gloves." She still hadn't blinked.

"I like my hat, and it's bright out."

"Aaaaand the gloves?"

Ben went stone faced. "Skin condition. If I touch someone directly, their clothes fall off." She just continued to stare. He cracked a smile, and continued eating.

She rolled her eyes and finally blinked. "You're so full of shit, you're eyes are brown."

"You don't know what color my eyes are."

"Of course I don't, you never take off those damned sunglasses."

"Have you ever thought of just asking?"

"I could, but I want to see it. Seeing a person's eyes helps me with judging their character."

"There's a lot more to people than looks, ya know. Let's take you as an example, such a tiny little thing who wants to become a huntress."

"Damn it, I should have never told you about that. You bring it up every time you want to take the conversation away from yourself."

"Take it easy Eve, no need to get so wound up over it."

"The way you say it makes it sound like you think it's some kind of joke. As soon as I've earned enough money for tuition, I'm heading straight to Beacon Academy."

"And you never tell me why you want to be a huntress, so I've gotta have some secrets of my own. It's only fair. Besides, aren't you a little old to go to Beacon?"

"Nope, with the need for huntsmen on the rise, they have night and weekend classes for adults to attend if they want to try their hand at it."

"Well then, you seem to have it all planned out."

"Of course I do, I've been wanting this ever since I was little."

"I see." Just then, four teens walked in wearing Beacon uniforms. Ben paid them no attention but Eve looked annoyed.

"Ugh, not them again." Eve stood up.

"Friends of yours?"

She glared at him. "If by 'friends' you mean 'assholes that won't leave me alone' then yeah."

She feigned a smile as well as she could and went to the table that they were sitting at. Ben shrugged and went back to eating. Just as he finished his food he heard Eve. "Let go of me!" One of them had her arm and was trying to drag her down to the booth.

"Aw, come on foxy. You can sit with us too. I promise we won't bite."

"Damn, here we go." Ben finished his drink.

"You may not, but I do!" She sunk her teeth into his arm and he let go.

"OW, you bitch!" He tried to backhand her, but she released him and jumped back, her teeth still bared. He got up, ready for a fight.

"Is there a problem here?" Ben said as he stepped up, towering over the group.

"Mind your own business, redneck. I need to teach this mutt a lesson."

"You see, I take exception to that. She's a fox, not a dog."

The punk paused and looked dumbfounded. "That's what you have a problem with? Not the redneck part?"

"Why would I have a problem with that? I am a redneck, boy."

"Do you have any idea who you're calling 'boy'? I'm Jack Reaper, I'm a huntsman, and you'd better show some respect."

"Huntsman in training. I'm not blind, that's a school uniform."

"Still more than you'll ever be, I could kill you eight different ways with one hand."

"Hey, easy there cowboy. No need to get violent here. Let's take it from the beginning. Since you introduced yourself, I'll do the same." He extended a hand. "I'm Ben Shields."

Jack reached out, but just as he was about to grab Ben's hand he balled his fist and delivered a powerful uppercut that knocked Ben on his back, unconscious.

"Who said I need to know your name, redneck seems to suit you just fine. Let's get out of this dump." He started walking out and the others followed suit.

"See you around, foxy." He winked at Eve as he passed. She turned away, disgusted. Once they were gone, she turned her attention to Ben and went wide eyed when she saw that he was already on his feet.

"I'd hate to know how his hand's feeling right about now."

"What the hell, Ben? Were you faking?"

Ben rubbed his jaw and cracked his neck. "Yeah. It diffused the situation, didn't it?"

"You're out of your mind, you know that?"

Ben smiled. "Of course, it's scary in there. Check please."


	4. Chapter 3, Burning the midnight oil

Ben walked back to the junkyard after he paid for his food. He didn't just work there, it was also his home. Ben needed a place to live, and the old man that owned the place saw it as a way to have someone watch over the yard at night, so it worked out for both of them. He always had an interest in cars, so it wasn't hard at all to adjust to working here. Plus, his proficiency with machinery allowed him to excel with anything he operated in the yard.

Casa perked up as Ben walked through the gate and eagerly devoured some fries that Ben brought back for him. He didn't have much in the way of entertainment, so he just got back to work. Before long, night fell upon the city. Most of its inhabitants had turned in for the night, but not Ben. He planned to work until he couldn't stay awake any longer, it was the only way he knew to keep the nightmares at bay.

He nearly had the front fenders removed from the car when Casa stirred from his sleep and started staring out of the garage door, a low growl escaping his throat.

"Do we have company Casa?" He walked to the door, tilted his glasses down, and looked out. "Damn it."

It was Eve, she had jumped the gate and was being chased into the yard by the four goons from earlier. She leapt over a stack of cars and was gone from his line of sight, her assailants weren't far behind her. He turned back to Casa. "Well old boy, I guess this'll keep me awake."

Eve was desperately searching for something, anything she could use as a weapon as she clambered over the derelict cars and trucks. She didn't see them behind her, so she took a small breather.

Jack and his cronies strolled along between the rows. "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You owe me for the mental anguish you've given me from biting me earlier."

"Maybe I should have gone after your throat, asshole." She whispered as she found a tire iron. It wasn't much, but it was something she could defend herself with.

"Ah, there you are." She shrieked in surprise and whirled around to face him, iron at the ready.

"Oh, you want to fight? That hurts me, but not nearly as much as I'm gonna hurt YOU!" He lunged at her and she deflected his swing with the iron. She followed up with a kick to his stomach. Jack doubled over, but before she could get away, another guy disarmed and threw her over a car and into a clearing. Enraged, she quickly brought herself up to all fours, looking every bit the part of a cornered animal as they closed in on her.

"I'll make you pay for that, foxy." Jack said through clenched teeth as he drew two batons that started arcing with electrical energy.

A loud grunt was heard from behind the group like someone was hoisting something heavy. Seemingly out of nowhere, an engine block fell out of the sky between the group and Eve, causing both parties to jump back from each other.

"The fuck was that?!" One of them exclaimed. As the four attackers tried to see through the dust that had been stirred up, Ben stepped out of the darkness carrying a long steel pipe.

"Not you again, you like rigging up catapults in the junkyard or something? Beat it, this doesn't concern you."

"No, I'd say this concerns me deeply. You see, you're trespassing in my yard. And I just can't allow that."

"You must be fucking crazy. And what's with the sunglasses? You know what, I've had it with this hillbilly piece of shit. Dean, you guys take him out. I still need to have words with our little fox friend here."

Ben hadn't gotten a good measure of the others at the restaurant while they were all sitting at their booth. The two guys looked like they could have been twins. They drew katana style blades, but held them in opposite hands from each other. The girl put on some gloves that seemed to glow from fire dust.

Ben readied his pipe as the twins came at him, they swung overhead and he blocked them both. Then he started pushing them back for a few steps before he spun to the left, causing one of them to fall forward but the other caught on and jumped back before Ben could deck him with the pipe. Ben saw a glow from the corner of his eye and ducked as a fireball shot by where his head was moments ago. The fallen guy was back on the offensive and Ben countered every strike until the pipe was cleanly cut in half and the blade struck his arm. The guy smiled until he saw that Ben wasn't bleeding from the strike.

"What the…" But he didn't have time to finish before Ben hammer fisted him in the face.

"GREY!" The other twin rushed in and Ben jumped out of his swing, only to be met by a round of fireballs that he put up his arms to block. Dean scooped his brother's blade up from the ground and looked at Ben, who's sleeves and gloves had been burned off of his arms, revealing that his arms were prosthetics with grooves running up his forearms from the wrists, two on the top side, and one on the bottom side. Ben dropped his arms down, and with a flick of his forearms, claws rotated out on a hinge at the wrist. Extending around his hands and forming large, three fingered grapples on each hand.

"What the fuck?" Ben didn't answer him, instead he charged in and grabbed the two blades with his grapples, forcing them outward and he head butted Dean. As he fell, he let go of the swords and Ben snapped them in half with each grapple. He straightened his cap and turned to the girl, who spun around and ran away.

Eve was awestruck. She had seen people with prosthetic limbs before, but she'd never seen any that were much stronger than the limbs they replaced, let alone with something reminiscent of the Jaws of Life built in. While she was distracted, she didn't notice that Jack had jumped behind her until it was too late and he picked her up with his arm around her neck.

"Stay back, monster! I'll kill her if you come any closer!"

Ben cocked his head. "Now that's not a nice thing to call me, we just met." He took a step forward.

"I said stay back!" He held a baton up to her face.

Ben paused. "Well Eve, we're in quite the predicament huh? After all you've been through tonight, do you still want to become a huntress? I can tell you from experience that there's a whole lot more like him out there parading around, calling themselves huntsmen and doing as they please. Is that what you want, to be like him?"

"No" She growled. "I'm going to be better! I'll grind sorry fuckers like him into the dirt by the time I'm done."

Ben smiled. "I like that answer."

"SHUT THE FU…" Was all Jack could get out before Eve rammed her head into his face. Blinded and furious, he threw Eve and she hit her head on a car, knocking her unconscious. Ben charged at Jack, who brought both batons up to defend himself but Ben simply swiped and knocked the ends off of them, rendering them useless. Jack dropped the batons and cowered in fear.

"Please don't kill me!"

Ben kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him out cold. He turned and let out a sigh. "Pathetic. There are too many cowards like you out there, and not enough tough sumbitches like her out there to make up for it. I feel sorry for the people that you're supposed to defend."


	5. Chapter 4, What happened to you?

Eve was tired. She could tell that she was lying on a couch of some kind, it felt so nice. She just wanted to stay asleep, but something smelled and she couldn't figure out what it was. Frustrated, she opened her eyes and froze at what she saw. Inches away from her face and staring at her intensely was a huge dog.

"Um… nice doggy." Casa answered her with a barrage of licks. She shrieked, her arms and dog tongue flying every which way. Finally she was able to shove him off.

"Casa, leave her alone." Ben commanded as he was hunched over the car he'd been working on. Casa lowered his head and sulked away.

Eve composed herself. "Where am I? What happened?" She started to get up, but winced when she finally noticed how badly her head hurt.

"Take it easy. You're in the shop at the junkyard. And you were knocked out when that twerp threw you into a car door."

Eve's eyes went wide. "Where are they?"

"Gone, I threw all of the guys out and the girl ran away."

Ben finally found a stopping place and stood up from the car. He turned around to face Eve. He had removed the burned hoodie and was wearing a grey T-shirt. She could clearly see his prosthetics up close now, and the slots that the grappling claws rotated out of.

Ben knew what she was staring at. "I'm not dangerous, if that's what you're thinking."

She swung her legs around and sat up on the couch. "Oh, you are dangerous. I saw that earlier, but that's not what I'm thinking. What in the world happened to you?"

"It's a long story."

She rolled her eyes. "I have time"

He looked at her, and then to his hands as he cleaned them with a rag. "Then we'll need something to drink." He turned and walked over to the fridge to retrieve two sodas. He handed one to her and took a drink from his own, then he sat down and told her about the incident from when he was a power technician in Atlas.

"Oh my…"

"Oh my indeed, the power travelled from my left arm, through my body, and out of my legs. The entry and exit wounds destroyed those limbs, and the beowolf nearly severed my right arm at the shoulder."

"Shouldn't that have killed you?"

"It very well should have. If the power going through my heart didn't do it, the damage to my immune system from the burns should have. But there's something different about my body. My heart is much stronger than average and it was able to withstand the current that traveled through it."

"Amazing, so how did you end up with combat prosthetics? I've never seen anything like what you have."

Ben took another swig. "The military took interest in me when they found out about my body withstanding an electrical surge of that magnitude. They told my family that I had died, so they gladly donated my body to the military. They must have thought that I was finally going to fulfill my duty to the military in the end."

"That's horrible!"

"Meh, it didn't surprise me. So now they had a wonderful new guinea pig that was extremely hard to kill, and that's not all. During their testing they found that I'm immune to most diseases, toxins, and poisons." Ben chuckled to himself. "My family is famously known for how stubborn we are, somehow my body took that down to a cellular level. They tried to turn me into some kind of wonder cure but as I was told, every test subject that took the treatments harvested from me died. Apparently my 'miracle' is deadly to anyone else."

Eve covered her mouth, she didn't know what to say. Casa strolled up and Ben started petting him.

"With that research failing miserably, they switched gears to turning me into some kind of weapon. Seeing as I was so hard to kill, they decided that they would install weaponized prosthetics on me that could be powered by Thunder Dust. With my previous experience with the stuff, and the fact that my heart could handle it, they figured that would be the best way to use me. They lined my skeleton with actuators and whatever metal the limbs are made of to hold up to the extra weight and pressure of the prosthetics. That also provides a better path for electricity to flow."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Whatever metal? You don't know what you're made of?"

"They neglected to give the science experiment the details of the project. Whatever it is, it's not magnetic, it has an extremely low resistance, and its ability to dissipate heat is like nothing I've ever seen. I can take a torch to the stuff and it will not heat up."

Ben wasn't petting him anymore, so Casa turned to Eve and set his head on her lap. She grimaced.

"What is he doing?"

"He wants you to pet him."

"I don't like dogs."

"He likes you though. Just humor him."

She tentatively reached out and started to scratch the dog's ears. "So how were they going to get you to fight for them? Obviously you weren't volunteering for any of this."

Ben took off his glasses, revealing his eyes for the first time to Eve. She stared into them, as the left was normal, with a grey iris, but the right had a pupil that looked like the lens of a camera and the iris surrounding it was white with a black outline. There was also a scar that ran from his eye back toward his ear.

"My right eye was destroyed in the fight. The replacement is wired into my brain with an A.I. contained in it. That's what helps me control how much strength my limbs put out. It's what allows me to blend in and be normal one minute, and bench press a truck the next. They were planning on using it to control me, but I escaped before they could apply the finishing touches."

She set down her drink and stared at him. "You escaped from a military lab on your own? I find that hard to believe. Didn't they have some kind of protocol to keep you on lockdown?"

"Yeah they did. They weren't going to give me any Thunder Dust until after they had control over me, and without it, my limbs were useless. What they didn't count on, was the onset of my semblance."

"Wait, you discovered your semblance while you were under their watch? What is it?"

"I had always thought that I didn't have a semblance. No one in my family does, we've always relied on brute strength and skills with a weapon in the past. Somehow, my run in with Thunder Dust unlocked mine. I have the ability to generate electricity. Not nearly as powerful as a charge of Thunder Dust, but enough to run my body at five percent capacity, as I've discovered."

She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Five percent, that's it?"

"I have a fully charged lifting capacity of ten thousand pounds and a limited shock load rating of nearly double that. So five percent of that is five hundred pounds, or a thousand pounds for short bursts."

"When you put it like that, it's a bit more impressive. But you were still in a military lab, how did you escape?"

"It was just a lab full of scientists and maybe one or two actual soldiers. It was pretty much just a matter of breaking my restraints, raising some hell, and bugging out while everyone was distracted by the ruckus."

"Didn't they come after you?"

"With a vengeance, they didn't want word of their secret project getting out. I fought off several of their strike teams before I jumped on a cargo ship and hid away here. I found this junkyard and convinced the old man that owned it to let me stay here, so here I am."

She looked around. "You… live here?"

He nodded. "Something wrong?"

"Of course something's wrong! You live by yourself in a damned junkyard because a bunch of assholes are after you. You're alright with that?"

Ben shrugged. "It's not fancy, but I don't need much. I'm built a bit sturdier than most so I don't really mind."

Eve stood up. "Well it pisses me off. I You're too good to deserve all of this." She gestured all around.

Ben leaned back in his seat. "Maybe I'm not as good as you think I am."

She turned and placed her hands behind her back. "Yes you are. I told you I'm a good judge of character once I've seen someone's eyes. Even if it is just one."

"Whatever you say, young lady."

She turned back to him. "Can you take me home? I have someone I'd like you to meet."

"Sure." Ben stood up and replaced his glasses. The two of them started walking and Ben grabbed another hoodie on the way out. They walked out of the gate and Ben locked it behind them. Eve looked around and spotted a ratty looking muscle car parked at the curb.

She smirked. "Looks like you've missed one that should be in there."

Ben walked past her and up to the car to unlock the door and hop in. She blushed, and then walked over and hopped in the passenger seat.

Ben smiled. "Didn't I tell you once that looks can be deceiving?" He turned the key and the engine roared to life, then settled into a throaty rumble before he dropped it into gear and drove away.

"So, who is it that you want me to meet?"

Eve smiled as she watched the city go by. "My sister."


	6. Chapter 5, No need for tech support

They had been driving for a while in awkward silence. Eve finally spoke up.

"Turn left up there."

"Yes milady."

She glared at him, and he smiled. "Just acting the part, if I'm gonna be your driver."

"Well knock it off."

"You sure seem to live a long ways from work."

"It's not too bad, I ride the bus."

"Yuck, I can't stand riding anywhere. I like driving too much."

"Humph, not all of us own a car, you know."

"I seem to manage it, and I'm a dead man."

She snickered. "You barely manage it in this pile."

"Watch it, you might make it angry."

"Whatever, find a parking spot for your rust bucket, we're here."

Ben grinned and obliged. The two of them hopped out and Eve led the way to an apartment building that had seen better days. It was late, so it was no surprise that the lobby was empty. At the end of the hall there was an old elevator that they stepped into, only to be greeted by an alarm as soon as Ben stepped on. A light was flashing above a sign that read 'Maximum working load-400LBS'.

Eve giggled, and Ben sighed. "What floor is it? I'll take the stairs."

"Third floor, I'll meet you there big fella."

She closed the shutter gate and waved as she hit the button. He turned and walked away as she rose out of sight. The elevator was slow, so she leaned back and closed her eyes for the ride up. The elevator stopped and she opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped. "H-how?"

Ben stood smiling in the opening. Eve tore the gate open and stormed past him. She had calmed down by the time they reached the end of the hallway and stood outside her door. She unlocked it and they stepped in.

"Stay here and I'll go get her."

"Won't she be asleep?"

"Nah, I bet she's gonna be playing on her computer or something."

Ben did as he was told and took a seat. Eve turned and walked through her living room and up to her sister's open door. She rolled her eyes as her suspicions were confirmed. Nina Weyhart was dead to the world, headphones on and tinkering away on a computer's hard drive that she had opened up before her. She was staring intently at the delicate pieces that she was soldering together to do who knows what to the thing.

Nina looked nothing like Eve. She was 20, nearly a foot taller than her sister, with short, messy black hair, and blue eyes. The most prominent difference between the two was the fact that Nina was human.

She absently reached to her left for her energy drink, but it was nowhere to be found. Her hand fumbled around on the table for quite a while before the fact actually registered with her and she looked to where her drink was supposed to be.

"Hey Nina, glad to see you're up and worried sick for your sister not coming home." Eve said, and then she took a swig of Nina's drink.

She pulled her headphones down. "Hey sis! Check it out, I almost have our computer back up and running, better than new."

"There was nothing wrong with it, how many times do I have to tell you not to tear apart things that aren't broken."

Nina stretched, and then pushed her glasses back up on her nose. "There was plenty wrong with it. It was too slow, and more importantly, I was bored."

"You're going to burn something to the ground one of these days."

Nina defiantly crossed her arms."Must I remind you that I haven't had a single failure on anything I've worked on?"

"Well, if you're done tooting your own horn, I have someone that I want you to meet."

"Ugh, you didn't bring a boyfriend home did you?"

Eve smiled. "Not quite, come on."

Nina stood up, removed her headphones, and followed her sister out. She found Eve frozen in front of the chair closest to the entrance, blocking her view of Ben.

Puzzled, she asked. "What's wr-"

"SHH!"

Nina quietly walked up beside her sister and finally saw what was going on. Ben was asleep in the chair that Eve had left him in. Unbeknownst to the girls, for the first time in weeks, he wasn't being haunted by his nightmares.

"He must be exhausted." Eve smiled. "I've never seen him so peaceful before."

"What are you talking about?"

"He seems so troubled all the time. It's odd to see him like this." Eve tossed a blanket on him, turned around, and started walking to her room.

"Leave him alone for now, I'll fill you in on his story. You can meet him yourself in the morning."

Nina looked at Ben, then turned and followed her sister, curious as to what this stranger's story was going to turn out to be.


	7. Chapter 6, Some disassembly required

Nina awoke early and got dressed in a tank top and jean shorts. She walked out into the living room to make sure Ben hadn't moved. She grabbed a few tools and walked over to him. Curiosity had gotten the best of her. Nina was obsessed with finding out how things work. And after Eve had explained who and what he was, she had to know more.

She tapped on his arms and legs to make sure he couldn't feel them. Satisfied that he wasn't going to wake up, she tipped his hat up, pulled his glasses off, and traced the path of his scar along his head.

"Poor thing."

Nina pulled the blanket off and rolled up one of his sleeves. She gingerly inspected the arm before her, being careful not to wake him. Nina could see into the slots that his grapples rotated out of, she traced down to his wrist and saw that the hinge point had a gap between his wrist and forearm that went all the way around his arm.

"Oooh, it rotates and disconnects from his arm."

She looked for an access panel to see what was under the surface, maybe a way to disconnect the wrist from his arm, but she couldn't find anything. She then moved on to his leg and rolled up his pant leg to find that his boot was actually his foot. His leg was kicked outward so she checked under his foot, she found that the bottom had a rubber tread with a hole under the heel. She grabbed a small light and shone it in the hole, revealing a stake point just inside.

"Hmm, anchor bolts, very interesting….."

She stood up and started pacing back and forth. "Damn it, I want to take it apart!"

Eve was finally awake and stumbled out of her room still in her pajamas, her long hair was everywhere. She paused when the sight in her living room finally registered in her mind. Nina had her foot planted on Ben's leg while she was jamming a screwdriver into his arm and prying with everything she had. "Nina, what the hell are you doing?"

Nina froze, and then turned to her sister. "What? This guy sleeps like a rock."

"No I don't."

"EEEP!" Nina fell off and landed on the floor.

"Ya know, if you're gonna skip the foreplay and jump right into sticking a screwdriver into me, the least you could do is buy me a drink first." He turned to Eve. "Mornin' Eve, was I out long?"

"Good morning yourself, sleepy head. You zonked out right after I sat you down to go get Nina."

Nina jumped off of the floor and pointed a shaky finger at Ben. "How long were you awake?"

"From the moment you tipped my hat up, how the hell do you expect me to stay asleep after you do that?"

Eve giggled and Nina put her hand down. "Oh, good point."

"You're quite perceptive. You were dead on with all of your guesses. Nice to meet you, I'm Ben Shields." Ben stood up and placed his hand out.

Nina put hers forward, but hesitated.

"Don't worry, I can safely shake hands."

She blushed, and took his hand. "I'm Nina Weyhart, and it's nice to meet you too. So can I see how your arm comes apart?"

"Cutting right to the chase, huh? I don't see why not. You can't take it apart from the outside, an electrical signal has to be applied to do it."

Ben deployed the grapple on his right arm, he then disconnected it at the wrist and laid it on the table for them to see.

"Oooooooh cool!" Nina went in close and excitedly started inspecting the claw. Eve looked as well, but was only mildly curious, and had no idea what she was looking at.

"When tossed, this winch line keeps me linked to it. I send an electrical signal to control them, but they can only do the basics, open, close, rotate, and retract."

"Awesome! This is incredible, whoever built you knew what they were doing."

"Thanks, I guess."

Nina looked up from the arm. "You can't operate this stuff for long on your own, can you?"

Ben shrugged. "When I first escaped, I was out of power within an hour and had to rest. Now I'm at the point where I can run it all day on my own performing normal tasks, and about three or four hours with continued strenuous use."

Eve looked up at Ben. "So why don't you use Thunder Dust to get more power? Wasn't that what you were built for?"

Nina rolled her eyes. "Only utility companies and the top huntsmen can get their hands on that stuff. If he tried to get some on his own, he might as well turn himself in to the Atlesian military."

"Is that true?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. Due to its volatile nature, Thunder Dust sales are strictly regulated."

Nina jumped back and threw her arms in the air in excitement. "It's all so cool! I want to take it apart. Can I? Pleeeease?"

"No way. The only people that know how to put this stuff together are the scientists in the Atlesian military, and there's no way in hell I'm going back to them if you mess something up." He retracted the winch line and withdrew the grapple back to himself.

Nina stamped her foot. "Awww, no fair! You're such a meanie!"

She eyed Ben. "So… here's an awkward question, but I have to know. Both of your legs were replaced…. so do you still have a…." She cleared her throat. "You know…."

"Cock? Not the original, they replaced it with a detachable stunt cock that can double as a club… it also shoots lasers."

Unable to keep a straight face for long, he started laughing maniacally, Nina blushed, and Eve facepalmed herself.

Ben settled back down. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's still original equipment down there."

Eve laughed and turned. "And on that note, I'm getting ready for work. I assume you need to head out as well. Could you give me a ride?"

Ben bowed. "As you wish, milady."

Eve scowled at him and this time, it was Nina's turn to laugh. "I told you to knock that off."

He straightened up, smiling. "Yes ma'am."

She turned again and continued to her room, slamming her door.

Ben turned to Nina. "Alright young lady, you two know all about me, and I know a little about Eve. So what's your story?"

Nina confidently pushed her glasses up. "Well for starters, I'm a genius."

"I gathered that already."

She deflated and narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't patronize me."

He put his hands up defensively. "I'm not, honestly, I can tell that you know your stuff."

She sighed. "You and Eve would be the only ones that think that. I can't quite hold down a steady job, I'm too 'quirky', as I've been told. So I work on about anything people bring me to try to help Eve pay the bills."

"I see."

"Aren't you going to ask the obvious question?"

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "It must not be that obvious, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Guh, I'm talking about the fact that Eve's a faunus and I'm human."

"Oh?"

"You seriously didn't notice?"

"Of course I did, but I wasn't going to bring it up."

She was speechless. Nina had never met someone who's first words to either of them wasn't about that.

"I was adopted by Eve's parents when I was really little."

"I see, what happened to your family?"

"I don't know for sure, Eve's parents found me wandering alone after an attack led by The White Fang. The police tried to find out what happened to them, but all evidence pointed to the fact that they were killed."

"That's horrible."

"It's not so bad. I was so young, I don't even remember any of it. The Weyharts treated me so well, I couldn't have asked for a better family."

"Where are they now?"

Nina looked down. "They… died a couple years ago, in a car crash."

"Damn, I'm sorry I asked."

"It's ok. Eve has watched over me, and kept me from losing it on more than one occasion." She looked at Eve's closed door. "All that we have left is each other."

Ben didn't know how to respond to that. So he gave her a moment, and then changed the subject. "What do you think about Eve wanting to become a huntress?"

Her eyes lit up. "It's awesome! She will make a great huntress and I want to be on her team."

"You want to be one too?"

"Of course, I'm not gonna let the only family I have left do something so dangerous without me there to help her." Nina crossed her arms with confidence. "Where she goes, I go."

Remembering what happened with his own family, Ben's eyes grew dark and sullen. "I see. You're lucky to have one another."

"What do you mean by that?"

Before he could answer, Eve opened her door and stepped out. "Time to go, Ben."

He replaced his glasses. "Yes ma'am." And then turned to Nina. "Good talk, young lady. We'll have to continue it another time."

"Yeah, see you later." She watched them walk out. When they were gone, she went back to her work bench, scratching her head. "What the hell did he mean?"

* * *

Ben and Eve were nearly at the diner.

"So, what do you think of Nina?"

"She's a brilliant young lady, seems like she's too hard on herself though. We just need to keep her away from screwdrivers when I'm around."

She laughed. "I'd put them on the top shelf, but… I'm shorter than her. She does seem to like you."

"I'm not sure what she likes more though, me, or my machinery."

"I can't help you there." Her face turned serious. "I'm sorry, but I was listening to you two talk. There's something that she doesn't know that I wanted to tell you. I'd rather tell you now, than have you find out on your own."

"What's up?" Ben was puzzled by the sudden serious tone as they arrived at the diner.

"It's about my parents. I need you to promise to not tell Nina, I need to tell her myself when I feel that I can."

"I won't."

"You promise?"

"Eve, my word is one of the few things I have left in this world. And it's as solid as I am."

She looked down as she opened the door. "I hope so. The fact is, my parents were members of The White Fang. They were involved in the attack that killed Nina's family. After that, they couldn't stand being a part of them any longer. Nina told you that they died in a car crash, I'm not entirely convinced that it was simply an accident, though I don't have any proof other than my instincts." She turned to Ben, who could see raging fire in her eyes. "You keep asking me why I want to become a huntress. It's what I have to do, to make up for my family's mistakes, and to keep anyone else from going through the pain that we've had to endure."

She stepped out of the car and closed the door, leaving a stunned and speechless Ben behind.


	8. Chapter 7, We have company

Ben scratched Casa's ears as he walked by. After dressing in his usual grey T-shirt and blue jeans, he walked over and clocked in. He felt great for the first time in weeks after such a good night's sleep and a shower. The bomb that Eve had dropped on him still weighed heavily on his mind though.

"Looks like deep thoughts for a shallow mind."

Ben turned toward Ronnie Brooks as the old man sauntered up to him. Ronnie is the owner of the junkyard, a man in his 70's, about six feet tall with a pot belly barely contained by his overalls and white shirt. His long hair and beard were both grey, and he wore a dirty red cap.

"Mornin' Ron."

"Somethin' on yer mind, kid?"

"I always have something on my mind, that's what keeps me sharp."

"That'll wear you down too, youngster. One of these days you'll learn."

Ben smirked. "Don't think it'll be today, old man."

"Bah." Ron waved his hand in dismissal. "You're such a stubborn fella. So, where have ya been? Your car was gone this mornin'."

"I was enjoying the company of two beautiful girls."

The old man cackled. "Bullshit son, the only time you ever leave the yard is to grab a bite to eat. I'm gonna head on out and let you get to work. Make sure you get that car pulled apart today, I got a guy paying good money for the drivetrain out of it tomorrow."

Ben saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

Ron shook his head as he walked out the door to head home, leaving Ben to work alone as usual. It didn't bother him though. In fact, he preferred it that way so he could use his prosthetics without worrying about people seeing and asking questions.

After an hour of work, he had the body unbolted from the chassis. He walked to the driver's side and hoisted it up. Once he was in the clear, he shoved it the rest of the way off of the frame. Ben wiped his brow with a rag and stepped down from what was left of the dismantled car. Now that the body was gone, it would be an easy task for him to remove the drivetrain.

Casa was undisturbed from his slumber even by the body tumbling off of the car and clattering to the floor, but he awoke and stared out of the garage door into the yard just as he had the night before. Ben took notice of this and groaned. "I'm never gonna get this thing pulled apart with all of these interruptions."

He started walking toward the door but froze when four teens stepped into the opening, weapons at the ready. A scrappy looking blonde guy with a sword and shield was at the lead, followed by a tall redheaded girl with a spear and shield, another guy with black hair and dual pistols, and an orange haired girl with what looked like a grenade launcher. Unbeknownst to Ben, they were the four members of team JNPR from Beacon Academy.

Jaune spoke, attempting to sound as intimidating as he could. "Ben Shields, we're going to have to ask you to come with us."

"Aw hell, I figured you Atlesian dogs had given up on finding me." Ben stepped back and prepared for the oncoming fight.

Pyrrha caught on to what he was thinking. "Wait, we're from Bea-…" But she was cut off by Nora.

"Let's break his legs before he can get away!" She gleefully cried as she leapt at Ben, changing her launcher into a hammer on the way. Ben grabbed the door from the car he was just working on and ripped it from its hinges just in time to use it as a shield to stop the blow. Glass shattered from the window as the hammer caved it in, the only thing stopping it from crumpling like tinfoil was Ben's much harder arm bracing it. He shoved back and tossed the much smaller girl like nothing.

"Nora!" Ren yelled as he ran in to help his partner. She landed on her feet still smiling and launched for another attack. Ren reached him first and began driving the blades from his pistols into the door repeatedly.

Ben caught on to what he was trying. 'Clever bastard, you're going for my arm!' He thought as he spun the door once both blades were in it, forcing Ren to let go or risk breaking his wrists. Ren jumped aside as Nora raised her grenade launcher and fired. Ben stepped right and deflected the round into the body of the car on the ground, blowing it apart.

Jaune stepped forward. "Watch it Nora! You'll blow us sky high in here!"

She turned to him, scratching her head. "Oops, my bad." She then turned her launcher back into a hammer.

'What the hell is with these kids?' Ben thought, but he was forced back into the fray when Ren resumed his attack. His hands were a blur that Ben couldn't keep up with, after being hammered with body blows, he dropped the makeshift shield. Ren jumped out of the way just in time for Nora to come in swinging. Ben met the hammer head with his fist and drove her back.

"Come on Pyrrha, they need our help!" Jaune ran toward the fight.

"Okay…" She followed, but something was wrong. 'This man thinks we're from Atlas. This may just be a misunderstanding.' Pyrrha went in close and deliberately made contact with Ben's arm. She withdrew and concentrated on his limbs to slow them down with her semblance to give Jaune an opening. He swung, but Ben easily caught his sword. He then delivered a boot that Jaune was barely able to block with his shield, but it still flung him back to land at her feet.

Jaune was knocked senseless from the hit. "Did anyone get the plates off of that truck?" He squeaked right before he passed out.

"What the… We were told that his limbs are metal prosthetics." She looked up from Jaune. "Why didn't that work?"

Ren and Nora continued their assault. Ren kept hammering the slower man and Nora would follow up with powerful strikes that Ben could barely avoid. He finally had enough, Ben deployed his grapples and grabbed Ren with one of them and lifted him off of his feet.

"I've had enough of your jumping around!"

Ben spun around to build momentum and flung Ren at the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Nora went berserk. "REN!" She charged at him and swung upward at his face. Ben barely dodged and readied for the follow up as Nora spun on the balls of her feet while keeping the momentum from the previous swing and attacked from the left. He caught the hammer in the palm of his hand, catching her completely off guard. The next second she found herself off of the ground as Ben lifted her over his head and slammed her into the floor.

Pyrrha squared off with Ben, her spear at the ready. She had been studying him closely. He's large and fairly slow, but tough as hell, skilled, and extremely strong. It seemed he wasn't interested in seriously hurting them, though she knew he was capable of tearing her apart.

Ben was tired of waiting and lunged at his last opponent. She spun out of his grasp and tried to backhand him with her shield, but he had already brought himself to a halt and blocked it. As they were locked together for the moment, she looked him in the eye.

"We're not here to hurt you Ben."

"Then take your friends and LEAVE!" He shoved her back.

"I can't do that."

That answer angered him, he charged and she threw her shield at him. He deflected it and continued his attack, slashing at the much quicker girl as she countered while backing up. The shield bounced off of a wall and returned to them, it struck Ben in the back and knocked him off balance. Pyrrha caught it and went on the offensive, alternating between slashes and jabs with her spear, and crushing blows with the shield. She knew that she had to keep him guessing, if he figured out a pattern and caught one of her attacks it was all over.

Ben was getting frustrated, this girl was always one step ahead of him. Every time he thought he saw an opening, she switched up her attack and slammed the door in his face. His arms and legs may be metal, but his torso is still flesh and blood, and every now and then she managed to get by his defenses and make contact. On top of everything else, he was running low on energy. He hasn't been in a fight like this in a long time, and taking on Little Miss Hammertime took more out of him than he cared to admit.

He caught her spear, but before he could act she let it go. What she was doing registered with him far too late, as she spun and nailed him in the head with the shield. Ben dropped the spear as he staggered backwards. Pyrrha grabbed it on the way by and smashed her shield into his chest with all of her strength, knocking him on his back. He tried to sit up, but he froze when his vision cleared and he realized he was staring down the barrel of her rifle.

"That'll be quite enough, Pyrrha." A man's voice came from the doorway.

She immediately withdrew the rifle and backed off. Ben looked to where the voice came from and saw a silver haired man with a cane. He rolled over and painfully rose to his feet, ready for another fight. Pyrrha raised her rifle and leveled off on his heaving chest.

The older man put his hand up. "There'll be no need for any more of that. As Pyrrha told you earlier, we're not here to harm you, young man."

Ben growled. "I've heard that same line a hundred times from you fuckers, I'll die before I go back to that lab."

He softened. "You don't know who we are, do you?"

"No I don't, but you guys came after me with weapons drawn."

"A regrettable mistake, I can assure you. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Professor Ozpin. I'm the headmaster of Beacon Academy. You've already met Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha." He gestured to the red haired warrior.

Pyrrha put her weapons away and waved. "Hello."

"Pyrrha, why don't you give us a moment and see to your teammates?"

"Oh! Of course." She dashed over to aid her fallen team.

Ozpin chuckled. "She has her quirks, but she means well."

"Hits like a sledgehammer too. I seem to be scuffling with a lot of your students lately."

"Indeed, that would be why we're here. To… discuss what transpired last night between yourself and team JDGE."

"You have a funny way of discussing things, mister."

"Well, you did dispatch a team of huntsmen by yourself, and all Jack could talk about was being attacked by a monster. You could see why we would exercise caution in approaching you."

"Did you happen to ask poor wittle Jackie about the girl they were attacking last night? If you went and talked to her, you might find out who the real monster is."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow. "He neglected to mention anything about that. Would you care to enlighten us?"

"Gladly." Ben recounted the events of the night before, and after Pyrrha made sure her team was okay, he showed Ozpin and her where the fight occurred. Once he finished, he stared down Ozpin, who remained silent. Pyrrha looked to the ground, disgusted and ashamed. She was right the whole time, they had no business attacking this man.

Ben looked at her. "No worries, miss. I jumped to conclusions as well."

"Young man, I vaguely recall General Ironwood telling me about a project that his scientists were working on a couple years ago called Steel Soldier. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

He scowled. "I always hated that nickname, it's stupid. I'm not made of steel."

"Indeed. Unless I'm mistaken, you're now wanted by the Atlesian military. Now that I've found you, what am I to do?"

"Forget you ever saw me, and we go our separate ways."

"If only it were that easy. With your recent display, it's only a matter of time before they come looking for you. And if Ironwood finds out that I knew about you, it would be seen as an act of betrayal."

Ben backed away from them. "I'm not going back to that lab."

"That's not what I'm suggesting. What I'm thinking is that you should become a huntsman at my academy. Hiding in plain sight, if you will."

"Do you think I'm stupid? Why don't I just climb the tallest tower in Vale, strip buck assed naked, and light up a neon sign saying Ben Shields is here?"

Pyrrha blushed, and Ozpin cleared his throat. "Something like that, but not quite as graphic. Think of it this way. If you were to become a certified huntsman that everyone in Vale knew about, how could the Atlesian military act against you without drawing unwanted attention? No more running, and no more hiding."

Ben thought about it for a moment. The 'no more hiding' part interested him greatly, it had never been in his nature to hide in the shadows like he has been doing. "That sounds like it might just be crazy enough to work. But I gotta say, your school seems to be a bit hit or miss when it comes to quality control." He looked to Pyrrha. "Present company excluded."

"If you're talking about team JDGE, they will be dealt with promptly thanks to your testimony. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated at my school."

"So what? You knock down one group and another will take their place, just as bad if not worse."

"Then why don't you step up and beat them to the punch?"

"Because in the end, I'm just one man. It's not like I can change the world on my own…" He trailed off when an idea came to him. "I'm willing to give your school a shot, on one condition."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? What might that be?"

"I'm under the impression that your huntsmen work in teams. I have two people in mind that want to go to go to your school far more than I do, and they will make a great huntresses. If you can arrange for them to join your school, then I'll join with them. If not, then I'll take my chances on my own."

"You drive a hard bargain, let me see what I can do. It won't be quite as easy as you think."

"That's your problem. I'll talk to them and find out if they're on board with the idea. You get back to me with what you can do. Also, try to be a bit more peaceful, would ya?"

He smirked. "I do believe I'll try that, young man." He then turned to Pyrrha. "Could you hand me your scroll, please?"

"Um, okay." She obliged, not entirely sure what Ozpin had in mind. He then handed the device to Ben.

"I need a way to contact you after I find out if this will be possible. I would like to meet your potential teammates at that time as well. Sorry Pyrrha, I'll be sure to reimburse you as soon as possible."

"In other words, you're gonna use this to keep tabs on me, or even track me."

"I don't believe that will be necessary. You don't strike me as the type that would run away. I will only contact you when I have news, but feel free to call whenever you want if you have any questions."

Before Ozpin turned to walk away, Ben spoke in a voice void of emotion. "Professor…" He walked up to him and looked the older man in the eye. "Make no mistake, I don't trust you at all. If anything seems fishy, or you do anything to cross us, I personally guarantee that I'll bring your precious school down around your ears."

After a few tense moments passed, Ozpin replied. "Duly noted. Come along, Pyrrha. Let's scoop up your team for the ride home."

"Yes sir." She turned back to Ben. "I'm sorry for everything."

Ben smirked. "Don't be. You're one hell of a fighter, and an honorable person to boot. That convinced me to listen to him. If there are more like you at Beacon, then I might just have to give that old man some credit."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"Now I expect a rematch sometime, ya hear?"

"You can count on it."

She followed Ozpin to gather her teammates and leave. Once they were gone, Ben collapsed in a heap on the floor. It was taking everything he had left just to stay on his feet while they were there. Right before he slipped into unconsciousness, he thought. 'Damn, I'm gonna have to get back in shape.'


	9. Chapter 8, That went well

Someone was calling his name. It sounded so distant, he couldn't make out who it was.

"Wake up Ben!"

His eyes snapped open. Eve was kneeling over him, a panicked look on her face.

"Hey Eve, what's up?"

Her eyes went wide with anger. "What's up? WHAT'S UP?! That's what you have to say to me?" She stood up and stamped her foot. "You didn't come by the diner today so I came to check on you and what do I find? I found you knocked out on the floor looking like you went a few rounds with a sledge hammer! You had me worried sick. What happened to you?"

He sat up and gingerly rubbed his aching head. "Damn, I must have been out for a while. Well, I was paid a friendly visit by the headmaster of Beacon and a team of huntsmen."

"Don't give me that crap! You were in a fight."

He grinned. "Yeah, but they started it. Apparently the twerps that were after you convinced them that I attacked them. After some spirited initial debate, I was able to tell them what happened last night."

"That's it?"

"Not exactly." Ben finally decided to try standing up, which he barely managed. Eve stepped closer to try to stabilize him but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't bother, I'll just squish you if I fall. The thing is, Ozpin wants to keep an eye on me. So he wants me to join up at his school."

"Really? Are you going to do it?"

"I told him that I will under only one condition. He has to let you and your sister in as well."

Eve was stunned, she wasn't sure that she'd heard correctly. All of the time she had spent trying to earn enough money to go to Beacon and this gets dropped in her lap. It couldn't be real.

"H-how do you know he's not lying?"

"I don't. I wanted to run this all by you two and see what you think. I'm not nearly smart enough to out think someone like him on my own when it comes down to it, but maybe together we would stand a better chance if things went south. And if it's legit, you two will be able to achieve your dreams."

"I see… We need to tell Nina, she'll be so excited." She grabbed his hand and pulled. He lumbered along as well as he could until he went down to a knee.

"I'm sorry, are you in pain?"

"That's not it, the problem here is I'm low on power." His stomach rumbled rather audibly, surprising Eve. "And I'm hungry."

She thought for a moment. "Wait here, I'll be back." She jogged away before he could say anything. While she was gone, he managed to stumble over to his couch. He lost track of time and had his eyes closed when he smelled something delicious. He opened them to see that Eve was walking toward him with a pizza box in her hands, Casa happily trailed behind knowing that the box contained food.

"It's no burger and Dr. Piper, but I bet you won't complain."

"I didn't know the diner made pizza."

"You would if you actually looked at the menu."

She set the box down and walked to the fridge to retrieve drinks for them. When she returned, she was shocked to find that He had already eaten one slice and was halfway through another. She stole a piece for herself and watched in awe as he devoured the rest faster than she had seen four people do so. He finished the last piece and downed his soda. Casa looked on sadly as he saw there was nothing left for him. Eve handed him her leftover crust and the dog eagerly devoured it. She smiled and scratched his ears as he ate.

Ben belched. "Thank you, I needed that."

"Apparently."

"Two fights in two days and I'm pooped. If this school thing works out, I need to get stronger."

"Will you be alright?"

"I'll live, now let's go see your sister." He slowly stood up and trudged toward the door. Eve walked alongside him, for moral support at the very least.

* * *

Nina was hard at work reassembling a monitor that one of their neighbors had brought to her to fix, she was lost in her own world of technology and the music pounding in her headphones. All the while her sister stood behind her waiting to be noticed. Eve was getting impatient, she had been waiting for a couple minutes already without her sister catching on. She smiled mischievously when an idea popped into her head. She sneaked over and grabbed an unopened energy drink that still felt cold enough to do what she wanted. She then inched up to Nina and pressed it to the taller girl's neck.

"AAAHHWHATTHEFUCK!" Nina stood bolt upright, then lost her balance and crashed to the floor with her arms flailing. Eve walked up and leaned over her, grinning widely.

"You should know better than to ignore me."

Nina jumped to her feet, furious.

"Oooh, you're dead, runt."

Eve held up her hand to silence Nina.

"Easy killer, Ben's here with some news you'll want to hear."

She took Nina's hand and pulled her out into the living room where Ben was in a chair patiently waiting for them.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Ben smiled as the girls also took a seat, he then recounted the events of the day as he had with Eve. Once he was finished, Nina excitedly hugged her sister. "This is great news! We're going to Beacon!"

Eve pried her way out of the embrace before it started choking her. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're not entirely sure if we can trust Ozpin yet."

"Exactly, that's why I wanted to get together with the two of you to get your thoughts on all of this."

Nina piped up. "Well, from what I've gathered from my research on Beacon, we're not going to outsmart Professor Ozpin. He's cunning, brilliant, and highly unpredictable."

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "What kind of research have you been doing? It sounds like you know the guy."

Nina shrunk into her seat a little. "I may or may not have hacked into Beacon's servers and poked around a bit."

Eve exploded. "YOU WHAT?! I told you to stop pulling those stunts! You keep poking around where you're not allowed and you're going to end up in jail."

"Cool your jets Eve, that's the only hacking I've done since you told me to stop. You can't expect me to not look into the school we want to get into."

"That's your excuse? If they find out you did that it could ruin our chances at getting in. Can you believe this Ben?"

"I can, and I'm not opposed to it."

"W-wha… what the hell do you mean?"

"Ozpin holds all the cards here, so I'll take any tactical advantage we can get."

Eve persisted. "It's wrong!"

"The whole world is full of wrong. I'd call this a minor wrong. So would you care to enlighten us as to what you've found?"

Nina looked to the floor. "It's not like I found much, I couldn't delve too deep without getting noticed. I did find that he personally allowed a few students to enroll recently that by all means he shouldn't have."

"Why's that?" Ben asked.

"Well, one of them completely faked his transcripts and snuck into the school, another was moved ahead two years, and the last used to be a volatile member of The White Fang before she enrolled. Ozpin was responsible for each of them getting in."

The latter case intrigued Eve, she begrudgingly swallowed her anger and asked. "So where are they now?"

"Believe it or not, the con man and the girl who was moved ahead are leaders of their own teams. And the White Fang girl is a valuable member of hers. They have all excelled, so I guess Ozpin's gambling paid off."

Ben frowned. "Gambling is the nice way to put it, he sounds like he can get downright reckless when it comes to trusting people."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Not everyone is bad, Ben."

"Most people are, and it's better to expect it and be proven wrong."

Eve looked sideways at him. "That's a warped way of thinking."

He shrugged. "I've lasted this long thinking that way. Enough about me, did you find anything we could use against them if we had to?"

"I'm sorry, but no. From what I was able to look at discreetly, it looks like everything is on the up and up."

Eve looked hopeful. "What she did find was good though. If they got in, we might just have a shot."

Nina sighed. "I don't know about that. He let them in because he saw some kind of potential in each of them. He doesn't know us from a hole in the wall."

"Not entirely, he has an idea of what I can do thanks to his teams. I gave him my word that you two would make great huntresses. So, I'd like to know what the two of you can do to see if I'm mistaken. Let's start with you, Eve. Do you know what your semblance is?"

She looked at the ground. "I don't."

"That's ok, how are you in a fight?"

She perked up. "I'm highly effective if I do say so myself."

"She's not lying, ever since we were little she would beat the hell out of anyone who tried to pick on me." Nina waved her hands as if she were doing karate.

"That's a start, so I take it you're not exactly 'effective' in a fight, then?"

Nina put her hands back down. "Not really, but I know what my semblance is. I just don't know how much it will help."

"Oh? Do tell."

"My semblance is analysis. I can take apart and learn about nearly anything in my mind without actually touching it."

Ben crossed his arms. "That's not really extraordinary. I do the same when I'm working on a machine."

Nina looked at Ben for a few moments. "Your left arm is marginally weaker than your right. You can run your limbs during normal operation for approximately sixteen hours on your own. Your limbs require so much of your aura to run that it can't protect you from harm. Your right eye is what allows you to see even when it's dark and you're wearing sunglasses. I can keep going if you'd like."

Ben was stunned as Nina smiled confidently.

He composed himself after a moment of silence. "So that's why you like fixing computers. You can see their weak points or what's wrong with them before you even get into them."

"Exactly."

"You can tell that my aura can't protect me, so can you tell the weak points on people as well?"

"To an extent, yes. It's easier with non organic things."

Ben slapped his knee. "How the hell wouldn't that help us? That's the kind of tactical advantage I like! With some proper training that can become an asset that is unrivaled."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Now how 'bout weapons, have either of you fired a gun before?"

Eve answered first. "No."

"Neither have I, but my semblance will allow me to learn faster than anyone else could."

"Well now, this just keeps getting better and better. You may not be much of a brawler, but if you're good with a gun then you can even the odds right up. Alright, now what about melee weapons?"

"I've never used any, but Eve has a sword collection that she practices with sometimes."

Eve scowled at Nina. "I told you not to tell anyone about that."

Nina ignored the look. "Why not? I think it's relevant."

"It's private, and you make it sound like I'm some kind of nut when you call it a collection. All I that I have is a couple training swords and mom's Twain del Sole."

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "Twain del Sole, what the hell is that?"

"It's… an heirloom that our mother passed down to me. Hold on, I'll get it."

Eve briskly went into her room and returned with a case that she set on the floor and opened. She pulled a sheathed sword from within and unsheathed it. The blade was a little over two feet long, straight for the first two-thirds and curved at the last. And the hilt was a hand and a half long.

"In simple terms, the name Twain del Sole means Two the One."

Nina smiled, she loved seeing her sister with their mother's sword, but Ben was dumbfounded. "Uhhh…"

"Allow me to demonstrate." She grasped the sword in her right hand and touched a release in the hilt. Instantly, a smaller straight sword sprang from the main unit which she deftly caught in her left hand. This left the larger sword with a piece missing in the sharpened side of the straight length in the shape of the smaller blade. With a twirl of each weapon, she went into a defensive stance.

Ben smirked. "Ah, I get it now. I like it."

Eve relaxed and presented both blades for him to see. "Thank you, each blade can be charged with dust through their hilt."

"What are you planning on using in them?"

"The long blade is designed to use ice dust, and the short blade is designed for fire dust."

"Nice. I take it your mother taught you how to use it?"

"She taught me quite a bit about the sword since I was older. She also taught us how to use aura to protect ourselves."

"Very nice."

Nina turned to Ben. "Now that you've thoroughly grilled us on what we can do. I want to know what you've been trained with and what you can do, aside from the obvious." She nodded to his arms.

"It's nothing fancy really. My weapons training started when I was eight years old, and I killed my first Grimm, an Ursa, when I was ten."

That stunned the sisters. "Your family forced you to fight an Ursa when you were just a kid?"

"Pretty much. So, seeing as I never really chose a weapon, they decided to throw nearly everything at me to see what would stick. I've at least dabbled in nearly every kind of firearm as well as several different melee weapons. I was also trained in hand to hand combat, but unfortunately with my replacement limbs I can't fight hand to hand as fluidly as I could originally and if I'm forced to, I must be careful as I could easily kill someone."

"Woah…" The sisters replied in unison.

Ben chuckled. "It's funny, I still didn't have a weapon to call my own even when I started at the academy. And now I am a weapon."

Nina shook her head. "You're not just a weapon you know, you're just highly modified."

"You don't need to make me feel better about it, I am a living weapon. You could even call me a monster, but I've accepted that fact. If this school thing works out, I might just be able to do some good with what I've become."

Neither of the girls knew what to say to that. As if on cue to break the silence, a scroll began to ring. It took a few rings for Ben to realize it was actually his that was given to him by Professor Ozpin earlier. He opened it and tried to touch the screen to answer but the surface of his prosthetic fingers wouldn't register on the screen. He growled, then brought the device up to his face and hit the answer button, then the speaker phone button with his nose.

"This is Ben."

"Good evening, young man. I hope you're recovering well." Ozpin's voice came through the speaker.

"I'm fine, I take it you have information for me already or you wouldn't be calling."

"I do indeed. Have you spoken with your friends yet?"

"Yes sir, they're with me now and you're on speaker so they can hear you."

"Excellent. Would they care to introduce themselves?"

"Y-yes sir, I'm Eve Weyhart."

"And I'm Nina Weyhart, nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm going to get down to business. It is going to be difficult to accommodate your request, but it is possible if we hurry."

"Lay it on us." Ben replied.

"You're going to have to pass the initiation just like everyone else. The only time that we have available for your team to take it and be able to attend this year will be this Saturday."

The girls nervously looked at each other, then back to Ben.

Eve spoke. "I think we're fine with that, but what about you? That only gives you one day to recover."

Ben didn't even hesitate.

"We can do that. What do you need us to do?"

"I'm happy to hear that. I'm going to send you an address. Your team will need to be there at six A.M. sharp with what you think you will need for the challenge. You will be taken from there to your initiation. Do you have any questions?"

Ben looked to the girls, but they both shook their heads.

"Doesn't look like it. Thank you for the opportunity sir, looking forward to it."

"Don't thank me yet, young man. I will see you on Saturday."

Once Ben hung up, he let out a sigh and looked to Nina. "That went better than I thought it would. Do you know what we need to expect, Nina?"

"Not exactly, I know that the initiation is a way for teams to form and it weeds out those who don't have what it takes."

"Outstanding." Ben's scroll vibrated and flashed. He stood up as he read the message.

"Looks like we have the address. I'm gonna head back to the junkyard and finish some stuff up so I'll be clear to go. I'll pick Eve up after work tomorrow and we'll meet back here to prepare what we need."

Eve stood up to meet his gaze. "Are you sure you'll be alright? You don't need to be pushing yourself so hard for us."

He smiled. "Thanks for the concern, but this isn't just for you. I'm tired of hiding in the shadows, it's against my nature. The fact that I'm helping the two of you become huntresses is an added bonus."

"Well, thank you for everything."

"Not that I want to sound like Ozpin, but you shouldn't thank me yet. This may end up bringing the suck."

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

"I hope you're right. Have a good night you two."

Ben turned and walked out. Eve looked to Nina.

"So, what are your thoughts on all of this?"

Nina sighed. "I can't believe I'm getting up that early on a Saturday."


	10. Chapter 9, Uh-oh

It was Saturday morning. The group rode together in Ben's car with heavy metal music playing low as they rumbled along. Desperate for some conversation, Nina piped up from the back seat.

"You really need to update your playlist, Ben."

"Sorry, I've been out of the musical loop while I've been technically dead. Besides, driver always picks the music."

"Do you even have a license Mr. Deadman?" Eve asked.

"Not from Vale, and I'm pretty sure my license from Atlas has expired by now."

"Great…" Eve nervously stroked her seatbelt.

"Relax, I'm the best damned equipment operator and driver in the world!"

Nina laughed. "By whose standards?"

"Mine, mastering prosthetics well enough to drive and operate machinery as well as I could beforehand was no easy task."

Eve rolled her eyes. "I'll have to take your word for it. By the way, we're almost there."

Ben slowed and pulled into an alleyway. "Alright, we're ditching the car and going in on foot."

Nina raised an eyebrow. "Why are we doing that?"

"If this is an ambush, I want to be able to fall back to the car and bug out if need be."

Eve nodded. "That sounds good, we still don't know what we're getting ourselves into."

Ben pulled into a small parking lot and then backed into a spot. Once everyone had bailed out and gathered their gear, he made sure the girls saw him place the keys inside the gas door of the car. They continued on toward their destination while sticking to the alley.

Eve had her Twain del Sole, and over her shirt she was wearing a utility vest that belonged to her father with vairous supplies in the pockets. Nina didn't have a weapon of her own, and was still wearing shorts and a tank top with elbow and knee pads. She also had a small pack with various items that she deemed necessary to bring along.

Ben held a hand up to stop the girls as he peered around the corner of a building. Once he was satisfied that the coast was clear, he turned to them.

"The address he gave us is an open lot across the street. I dunno what the significance of that is. Do either of you know what's in this building here?"

Nina answered. "It's From Dust Till Dawn, a dust and book store."

"Is it open?"

"Yeah, unless the old man that runs the place keeled over from working himself to death."

"Perfect. We need to get some fire and ice dust for Eve before they get here."

Eve went wide eyed. "How the hell are we supposed to do that? I didn't bring enough money to buy ammo!"

He smiled. "I have enough, it's not like I can go on shopping sprees when I'm trying to lay low. You're mom taught you how to use dust, right?"

Eve looked to the ground. "She was able to teach me the motions, but I was never able to practice with live ammo when she was here."

Ben softened. "Alrighty then, we'll get enough to practice with and use during the initiation. Hopefully I can cover any gaps that you have in your training with what I've dabbled in."

Eve was speechless, so Nina took the initiative. "Then let's go, we're still pretty early."

Ben paid the pleasant old man and took the newly acquired dust cartridges to the back to give to Eve. He smiled when he found her pouring over a book about the use of dust in combat. Nina was glancing through a gun magazine with music blasting in her headphones. She removed them when she saw him approaching. Ben set the bag of cartridges down on the table between them.

"Alright ladies, it's about time. Load these up in your pack and stay in here. I'm gonna wait outside for them. If this goes bad, I want you to slip out the back and forget about me. You got that?"

"But…" He held up a hand to silence Nina.

"No buts. I don't want you involved if they try to take me out. I'll get away, I always do, but I couldn't live with myself if either of you got hurt becau…"

Eve silenced Ben with a glare. "Don't you give us that lone wolf crap. We're in this together. We'll watch your back and act as we see fit if necessary. Now get out there."

"Yes ma'am." He chuckled as he turned and walked away. It was nice having someone on his side for once.

Once he walked out the door, Eve looked to Nina, and saw that her hands were trembling. She reached over and placed a reassuring hand on top of them.

"This is what we've been waiting for. Are you ready?"

Nina looked up and Eve could see doubt and fear in her sister's eyes. "I... don't know. I'm not strong like you guys, I don't know how I can help."

Eve smiled warmly. "You don't need to be strong like us, you need to be yourself. Ben's as stubborn as a mule, and I lose my temper easily. That's where you'll shine. You can come up with a strategy faster than anyone alive." She then pounded a fist into her palm. "Together we can all lay the smack down on some candy asses."

Nina couldn't help but laugh, her fear subsiding. "We almost had a moment there, sis. But I'd say you ruined it with candy asses."

"What can I say? I have a way with words."

Eve stowed the dust cartridges and returned her attention to the book before her. Nina did the same with the magazine, but left her headphones off. They both kept Ben in their peripheral vision through the store's main window.

Ben looked at the scroll, it was 6:03. He made sure that he was visible to the girls inside while he checked both directions for their supposed ride. A faint noise brought his attention skyward.

"Hmm, so that's why it's an open lot."

A Bullhead with the Beacon insignia roared into view and brought itself to a halt above the clearing, then it gracefully lowered to ground level. A short, stocky man with grey hair and a huge mustache stepped out and walked toward Ben with a purpose. Once he was close, he loudly greeted Ben.

"Greetings! I'm Professor Port from Beacon Academy, would you happen to be Ben Shields?"

"I would, and I'm not completely deaf. You don't need to shout."

"Ho ho! A sense of humor I see, I like it!"

Ben shook his head. "So that's how it's gonna be."

"I've heard of your family Ben, I look forward to seeing what you're capable of." He looked around. "Say, weren't you supposed to have a team with you? Where might they be?"

Ben grinned and nodded at the professor's chest. "They're around."

Port followed his gaze and saw that there was a red dot on his chest. The man froze, speechless for once.

"Now here's how this is going to go. You're going to stand at attention right there while I go vet your Bullhead and make sure you guys aren't pulling a fast one on us. If everything's kosher, we'll continue. If not… well, you'd better hope everything's kosher."

Ben patted him on the shoulder as he passed on his way to the craft. Once there, he cautiously approached the open door and peered in. After making sure the passenger compartment was empty, he stepped in and opened the pilot's door. He found one pilot who was too busy doing a pre flight check to notice him, so he backed out and quietly closed the door. Satisfied, Ben hopped out of the Bullhead and made his way back to Port, who was nervously waiting for him.

"Please understand, I've had people hunting and trying to kill me for quite a while now. So please excuse me for exercising caution."

"You're quite thorough. Very impressive." Port nervously stated.

Ben waved to the girls and the dot disappeared from Port's chest. Moments later, Eve and Nina emerged from the store and stood beside Ben.

Ben gestured to the girls. "Professor Port, this is my team."

"Hi, I'm Eve Weyhart." She shook his hand.

"Pleased to meet you miss."

"And I'm her sister, Nina." She shook it as well, but left something in it. Once Port saw what it was, his eyes grew wide. Nina winked and the three of them made their way to the Bullhead. The professor held up a laser pointer on a keychain in front of him as they left him behind.

"Excellent! This team should be very interesting to see."

The group climbed aboard the craft and took up positions where there were handles to grab onto. Professor Port finally made his way on board and pounded on the pilot's door.

"Take us to Beacon Cliff!"

The Bullhead began to lift off. Once they were at a travelling altitude, Ben nervously peered out of the window and his grip tightened hard enough to bend the handle that he was holding onto. Eve noticed and inched closer to him.

"Are you afraid of heights?"

Ben jumped, and then settled down. "Heights aren't a problem, I am NOT a fan of flying."

Nina laughed. "That's surprising."

"Dear boy, there's no need to worry. The pilots at Beacon are some of the best in the world!"

Ben stared down the professor. "That makes me feel sooo much better."

Port cleared his throat. "It should, now would you mind easing up on the poor, defenseless handle? You're going to break it off if you keep that up."

"Oh… sure." Ben released it, revealing the imprint of his hand on the bar. He stepped aside and took hold of another one.

"You know, you're going to have to get used to these things. They use Bullheads to drop teams off in hostile environments." Eve teased.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it, just means I'll have to endure."

"Very well put, young man. Endurance is a key feature of a huntsman. Allow me to tell you about how I defeated an Ursa Major with nothing but my bare hands…"

Whether they liked it or not, they listened to the professor's long-winded and farfetched story for the duration of their flight. They were greeted by the sight of Ozpin and a blonde woman when they arrived at the cliffside and filed out. Port stayed in the Bullhead as it lifted off and departed.

Ozpin greeted them first. "Good morning, I take it you all had a pleasant flight?"

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed, or slightly disturbed from that fella's stories." Ben chuckled.

Eve stretched. "I think the whole thing was made up. I was waiting for him to end it with 'and that's how I saved Christmas' or something like that."

"Indeed, Professor Port can tend to get a little carried away with his story telling. I would like you all to meet another member of my faculty, Glynda Goodwitch."

Glynda didn't look up from her scroll as she spoke. "Let's get started, shall we? I would like for each of you to take a position on a platform."

They obliged, and Ozpin positioned himself in front of them. He noted that Nina was unarmed, but said nothing about it.

"In front of you lies the Emerald Forest. This is where your skills will be evaluated and we will determine whether or not you are fit to be trained at this academy. Upon landing, you will regroup and make your way to the Northern end of the forest. There you will find an abandoned temple containing an item that you must collect and bring back to the cliff. You will be monitored throughout the challenge, but no assistance will be given to you. Be warned, this forest is home to many creatures of Grimm. If you are unable to handle yourselves against them, you will die. Are there any questions?"

Eve raised her hand. "You said something about landing, but not about how we get in the air. Care to elaborate on that?"

Nina looked down and quickly analyzed the platforms they were standing on. "Eve, these are catapults!"

Ozpin nodded. "You are correct, young lady."

Both girls nervously looked to Ben, who tried to reassure them. "Don't worry, we'll stick the landing."

"If there are no more questions, we will begin." Glynda touched a button on her scroll.

A series of metallic clicking noises could be heard beneath each of the platforms. They braced for the oncoming launch. A slight snap was heard and the sisters were catapulted from their stations, but Ben's platform released a horrible popping sound as its spring broke under his weight.

"Aw crap!" He sprinted toward the cliffside and put as much force as he could muster into a leap that he hoped would allow him to catch up to the girls.

Ozpin turned to Glynda. "Glynda, could you please contact the observer? I want to exchange the artifact for something else."

"Of course."

"Also, could you make a note that we need to upgrade the catapults?" He asked before he took a sip from his mug.


	11. Ch 10, No plan survives first contact

Nina had her body streamlined as well as she could in order to direct herself in the air toward Eve, who was trying her best to not freak out at the fact that they were falling toward certain death.

"HOLD OUT YOUR ARMS AND LEGS TO SLOW DOWN!"

Eve did as she was told and it slowed her enough for Nina to catch up and grab onto her.

"Now what?!" Eve yelled.

"We hope that Ben gets to us before the ground does!"

That didn't instill any confidence in Eve. Suddenly, the two girls had Ben's grapple around them and they were pulled backward. Once the winch line was all the way in, he let them go and they grabbed onto him.

"Climb onto my back and hold on tight!"

They did their best to quickly latch onto his back on either side as they were nearing the tree tops. Ben used his left grapple to latch onto a nearby branch and he immediately released the arm, the winch line slowed their descent considerably before the branch broke. He repeated the tactic with his right arm as he withdrew the left.

"We're still going too fast!" Nina yelled. She frantically scanned the approaching landscape and saw a small downhill slope to their left. She pointed over his shoulder. "Over there!"

Ben threw his left grapple and latched onto a trunk, changing their course to go over it. He touched down and tried to slide on his feet but he couldn't maintain his balance.

"Kick off of me, NOW!"

The girls jumped off and went into a roll. Ben lost his balance and started rolling down the hill as well, bringing his arms up to protect his head. He tumbled like this for another twenty feet before sliding to a stop on his back.

He groaned. "Ow…"

Ben sat up and looked for his team, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw them on their feet and running toward him. He laid back, closed his eyes, and started laughing. Nina reached him first.

"You're insane! Are you okay?" Nina asked.

He waved his hand. "I'm fine. Are you two okay?"

Eve breathlessly answered. "Peachy, never been better."

"Outstanding." He stood up and looked around. "Well, shall we continue North?"

Eve and Nina exchanged glances. "You just saved us from falling to our deaths, tumbled down a hill, and you're ready to go already?" Eve asked.

"Of course, we have a long day ahead of us."

Nina clapped her hands together and started walking. "Well alrighty then, let's get going."

"Hey Nina, that's East." Eve laughed.

She froze. "I knew that."

Ben chuckled as he started walking. "Did ya now?"

Eve caught up to him and matched his pace. "Hey Ben, are you still willing to help me practice with my sword?"

"Sure."Ben glanced around and saw something that suited their needs. "See that fallen tree over there? Load up some ice dust and let's see if you can hit it."

Eve withdrew a cartridge from her vest and unsheathed, split, and loaded the handle of the larger sword. She picked a spot on the log that she wanted to hit and took a swing, launching a single crystal that ended up going high. She tried again, and it went low. Frustrated, she blew a tuft of hair out of her face and was about to try again.

"Hold up. You'll get good enough with practice to hit with a single shot. Try a burst shot this time." Ben interjected.

"Okay." She slowed her breathing and calmed down. This time she shot a group of three. Two of them went high, but the third stuck in the log about six inches from the knot she wanted to hit.

"Way to go, sis!" Nina was jumping with excitement.

He smiled. "Quality isn't always better than quantity. Load up some fire dust and give that a shot."

Still ecstatic from the success, she took another cartridge from her vest and loaded the smaller blade.

Eve looked around. "What should I test it on?"

"Me." He deployed a grapple from his right arm. "Fire dust can be some pretty nasty stuff. Let's see if you can cross swords without blowing either of us up."

Eve triggered the dust and the blade glowed as if it were on fire. She leapt and spun, leading with the long blade first and then following up with the short. One after the other, each blade clashed on his arm. Sparks and fire erupted from the smaller blade with each strike. Ben walked backward and stayed defensive, letting her push forward with her strikes. He was only testing her so there was no need to counter. Eve showed a natural talent for this weapon, he could see why their mother gave it to her. Without warning, one of her strikes launched a burst of flames that Ben was barely able to sidestep.

Eve gasped. "I'm sorry!"

"Woo! Close one. I was waiting for that."

Nina tilted her head. "You were?"

"Fire dust practically mirrors its user's emotions. The more you get angry, distressed, or in this case, excited, the less control you have over it. You gotta stay calm if you want to remain in control. Other than that little mishap, you did great."

"Thank you."

"Let's save the rest of your ammo for later and get going. I think you've got the hang of it for now."

Eve sheathed her weapon. "Lead the way boss."

Ben marched onward, clearing the brush as he went and the sisters fell in behind him. Each of them kept an eye out for possible threats hiding in the shadows. Ben didn't like it at all, he was actually hoping that the impromptu training session would draw Grimm in so they could be dealt with on his terms. He knew they were out there, why they didn't show up to investigate the noise was beyond him.

Eve's ears were twitching, trying to pick up on anything moving around them. Her hearing has always been more acute than a normal person's, it's one of the advantages she has as a faunus. The only thing she was picking up was the sound of Ben smashing through the forest.

"Could you be any louder?" Eve hissed.

"Of course I could." He replied as he knocked down a small tree.

"I think what she's trying to say is, you're going to attract some unwanted attention."

"It's impossible to try to sneak by Grimm, they're unrivalled when it comes to stealth. This path I'm making serves two purposes. One is to lead us back to the cliff easily, and the second is to give us a clear means to escape if we need it."

"Won't it help them track us?"

"If they were normal animals, it would. But they can find us without needing to actually track us, if that makes any sense. It's some kind of instinct they have. Their existence revolves around destroying us, that's just one more thing they have in their favor."

Nina shivered. "Great…"

"Don't worry sis, we can handle this. Right Ben?"

He didn't answer. Ben was frozen in place, his eyes darted back and forth, though his team couldn't see that since they were behind him. He started breathing erratically as he clenched and released his fists.

Eve was afraid for him. "Ben?"

No response. She looked all around and listened for anything but there was nothing near them. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his back. Causing him to flinch and look over his shoulder at her.

"What's wrong Ben?"

He managed to slow his breathing. "It's nothing. Let's keep moving."

Eve and Nina exchanged worried glances, they knew just as well as Ben did that something was amiss. What they also shared was the fact that none of them knew why he suddenly acted like that. All that Ben knew was that he thought he saw a set of red eyes in the distance. His mind went blank until Eve touched him. He didn't know what to make of it, he had never felt anything like that before. His heart was still pounding hard enough to make his head hurt but he shoved it to the back of his mind and kept moving on. Eventually they crested a hill that revealed some ancient ruins at the bottom of it.

Nina excitedly jumped ahead. "You think that's it?"

"Let's find out." Eve said as she followed her sister.

Ben hesitated and looked back into the woods they emerged from. He didn't see anything, but he felt like they were being watched. He had no idea if it was Ozpin's observers or creatures of Grimm. Whoever Ozpin had out there watching them is good. Aside from his gut feeling, he hasn't had any indication that they were being watched. He sighed, shook his head, and followed his team down the hill. Once he reached the base and entered the ruins, he was greeted by the sight of his teammates standing over a pedestal, their bodies blocking his view of what they were looking at.

Eve glanced back at him. "Hey Ben, I think this is it."

The sisters stepped aside as he approached, revealing a rifle with three loaded magazines laid before them.

"What is it?" Nina asked without taking her eyes off of the gun.

"That, young lady, is a work of art. It's an Atlesian Marx rifle, standard issue for infantry soldiers. Highly versatile, customizable, and very durable. It has a selectable firing option allowing for semi auto firing when you need accuracy or full auto for when shit hits the fan. And it looks like those are twenty round magazines with it."

Without warning, Nina pulled a multi tool from her pocket and started disassembling the weapon.

"Hey! What are you…" Ben was cut off when Eve held up her hand to silence him.

She smiled back at him. "Let her have some fun, would you?"

In the blink of an eye, Nina had the Marx taken apart and spread out before her. Once the final piece was laid down, she quickly scanned everything. Then she immediately started reassembling the gun. Her hands were nearly a blur all around the weapon as it started to take on its original form right before their eyes. She slapped in a magazine and chambered a round, switched the safety off and brought it up to her shoulder to look down the sights. Satisfied with the quality of her work, she engaged the safety and laid it back on the pedestal.

"I love it, I want one!" Nina threw her hands in the air and jumped in place.

Ben was awestruck, he had never seen a rifle broken down and reassembled that quickly before.

Eve smiled. "Well I don't see why you can't carry that one back to Ozpin."

Ben scratched his head. "Hell, I'd say she's earned it with that display."

"Yay!" Nina scooped it up, snapped two magazines into the stock, and slipped the sling over her shoulder.

"Do you need me to set up some targets to practice with?" Ben asked.

"No thanks, I learned all that I can about this baby just now. I think it could use some modifications, but it's still in pretty good condition. As far as shooting goes, once I start, I can analyze any misses and get better with each shot."

"As much as I'd like to believe that, I'm not gonna bet our lives on it. Let me grab some-"

He was cut short when Nina brought the rifle up, switched the safety off, and sent a round into the branches of a tree just outside of the ruins.

Ben jumped. "The hell was that for?!"

Nina smirked. "Wait for it…"

Ben looked to the tree that Nina shot at and saw an apple tumble to the ground. He walked over and whistled as he picked it up and held it high, revealing a clean hole through the middle.

"Yeah Nina!" Eve high-fived her sister.

"Mighty fine shooting, I'll give you that." He tossed the apple behind him. "But apples don't shoot back, or come at you with numbers and intent to kill. Remember that."

Nina gave a faux salute with the goofiest face she could muster. "Sir, yes sir!"

Ben smiled as he shook his head. "Alright ladies, shall we make our way back?"

"Do let's!" Eve cheered as she pumped a fist in the air.

He turned in the direction they came from and started walking, but he stopped and his body went rigid.

"What's wrong Ben?" Eve asked as she glanced in the direction he was staring. "Oh no."

Her body tensed as she saw what he was staring at, dozens of red eyes in the forest closing in on them.

"Lock and load Nina, we have company! What's the plan, Ben?"

He didn't respond. Ben still hadn't moved from where he stood frozen in place.

"BEN!"


	12. Chapter 11, Technical difficulties

Ben didn't know what was going on. He was conscious and he could see the eyes in the woods, but he couldn't move. Suddenly Eve came into his view with a frantic look on her face. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear her. She snapped her fingers and waved a hand in front of his face, she even slapped his cheek but he couldn't even feel that. The first beowolf emerged from the tree row behind her. He tried with everything he had to warn her, but he couldn't make a sound as it closed the gap between them.

'Run away Eve! Please get outta here!' Ben screamed in his mind, but he couldn't form the words. 'No, please, no! Don't get hurt over me!'

The beast was nearly within striking distance when its head was blown apart. Eve whipped around and drew her weapon, her attention returned to the imminent danger.

"I'll take the far ones, you take any that get out of the trees!" Nina shouted as she crouched to stabilize her aim.

"You got it, sis!"

Nina precisely picked off targets as soon as she could make them out. It was unreal how accurate she was already, and she was only getting better with every shot. Even on moving targets, she was able to connect with pinpoint accuracy.

Eve received her first bit of action shortly, which she didn't hesitate to send a barrage of crystals into the monster's chest, effectively killing it. She didn't have any time to celebrate as two more were closing in. Gracefully, as if she were dancing, Eve spun out of the first one's grasp and sliced an arm off with the short blade, and then she rammed the long blade into its head, causing spikes of ice to expand outward and blow its head apart. The second beowolf leapt over the corpse and tried to swipe at her, but she ducked out of reach with another spin and sliced its head off with the fiery short blade when she came around.

Nina had to reload, which gave another pair of beowolves an opening. Eve deflected the first's swing with a burst of fire from the short blade, but it returned with another swipe that she had to duck under. While it had her busy, the second beowolf charged at the helpless Ben.

"NO!" Eve lost her focus just long enough for her opponent to backhand her, sending her flipping back to a painful landing. The beowolf reached Ben and struck him in the shoulder, driving him to the ground where he laid lifelessly. Before it could continue, Nina sent a round through its heart. Seeing that Ben was the weakest threat, the beowolf on Eve turned its attention to him.

Eve stood up, her eyes filled with rage. "You stay away from him!" She whirled and sent a massive fire burst at the beast, blowing it apart with the impact.

Nina was awestruck at the display of power, but she was forced to resume her attack when more beowolves began to emerge from the shadows.

* * *

Ozpin watched everything unfold on his scroll, his face void of emotion.

"Ben is down. Shall I tell the observer to move in and intercept?" Glynda asked.

He thought for a moment. "No, let's see how they overcome this on their own. Keep the observer on standby."

"Yes sir." Glynda didn't like that answer, but she accepted it none the less. She had faith that Ozpin knew what he was doing.

* * *

'Move dammit, MOVE!' Ben was helpless as he was forced to watch his friends fight for their lives as they defended him. He tried to apply more power to his limbs but they still wouldn't budge. The actuators in his back were locked up as well. Ben knew that the blast Eve used had to have emptied the cartridge in her blade. He could see her fumbling as she struggled to reload the short blade.

'Get up, they need my help!'

Nina was dropping beowolves left and right, trying to buy time for Eve to reload her weapon. She was starting to panic and her accuracy was declining because of it. Her second magazine ran dry, forcing her to stop and reload the last one that she had. The lack of suppressing fire allowed three large beowolves to emerge from the trees and approach Eve, who had finally reloaded and was ready for the oncoming fight.

Ben continued to struggle. 'Why can't I move?'

'Why do you insist on being so difficult?' The question echoed within his mind.

'What the hell?'

'If you keep this up, we will die.' The unknown entity spoke again.

'Who are you?'

'I am Apollo. I am the A.I. within your eye.'

'You've got to be shitting me, so now it talks to me?'

'I am not shitting on you.'

'Cut the crap, why won't you let me move?'

'It is not my doing. It is your fear that has you immobilized.'

'Bullshit, I've never been afraid a day in my life.'

'Your heart rate tells a different story. Your pulse has been racing ever since you saw the first beowolf since your accident today.'

Ben didn't have a response.

'When you were met with the current situation, your body stopped producing power. I have been doing everything that I can to keep your body from shutting down and killing you. Whatever is causing this is coming from you.'

'How do I fix it? They need my help!'

'You cannot fix it. If you want to help them, I recommend that you grant me temporary control over your body.'

'Fuck you, you're gonna take me back to Atlas.'

'No, I only wish to live. I know as well as you do that the Atlesian military would destroy both of us if they had the chance. Given our current situation, if you remain in control, we will die.'

Ben was furious at his options, he watched Eve and Nina the entire time he spoke with Apollo. There was no way they could hold out much longer.

Apollo continued. 'Your body doesn't produce enough power for me to operate for more than five minutes, so you do not have to worry about me taking over permanently.'

Nina fired her last round and Eve was knocked to the ground.

Ben was desperate. 'OK! Whatever it takes, just help them!'

Eve was dazed from the hit, and when her vision cleared up all she could see was the snarling face of her attacker. She closed her eyes, thinking this is the end for her. Then she heard the beast roar in pain. She fearfully cracked one, and then both eyes grew wide at the sight before her.

It was Ben, he had a grapple around the neck of the beowolf from behind as he lifted it off of its feet. It writhed in agony, desperately trying to escape his grasp until he increased the pressure and snapped its neck. He tossed the lifeless body aside. Eve could see his face now, it was expressionless and she could see a dull red glow behind his sunglasses from his right eye.

"B-ben?"

He didn't acknowledge her at all, he simply turned toward the next beowolf incoming and marched toward it. The beast started to swing but Ben swung faster and drilled it in the face with his grapple, tearing its head apart. The next two seemed to pause, almost as if they were afraid of this new threat. Ben threw his grapple at one of them, grabbing it by the midsection. He then yanked on the line, the force snapped its spine before it was slammed into a tree. He withdrew the line and threw the body at the remaining beowolf. It avoided the corpse but Ben closed the gap and rammed his fist through its chest.

Nina rushed to her sister's side, unable to take her eyes from the merciless brutality of Ben's attacks. "Have you ever seen him like that before?"

Eve shook her head. "Never, something seems off about him."

"He's moving like a machine." Nina stated what both of them were thinking.

"Yeah..."

They watched on as Ben went on the warpath, viciously destroying anything in his way. There were so many bodies dissolving on the ground that it seemed like smoke was rising, making the violence that much more chilling to witness.

Ben's hat was knocked off by a glancing blow during one of the exchanges. He paid it no attention as blood ran down his face from a cut received in the strike. He simply marched onward to each threat. Eventually, there were no more beowolves in sight. At that point, Ben stood still amidst the corpses, grapples still deployed and dropped to his sides.

Eve stood and stepped toward him. "Ben, wh-" She was silenced when she heard heavy steps beyond the tree row. Ben's attention snapped toward the sound. From the trees, a beowolf emerged that was similar to the one that nearly killed him years ago, the leader of the now decimated pack. The hellish beast examined Ben as it started to circle him, seemingly taking his measure. Ben stood solidly, following it only with his eyes.

The beowolf stopped circling and stared him down. Ben turned to face where it stood and never broke eye contact. The two combatants seemed frozen in time waiting for the other to move. Remarkably, the beowolf took a step back. As a creature that had survived countless battles and learned from each of them, it seemed to know that engaging this enemy would lead to its destruction.

"No." Ben snarled as he launched himself at the beowolf. It backpedalled, narrowly avoiding every strike until it sidestepped and struck him in the arm. The force of the hit knocked him back but not far due to his weight. He charged again and resumed his barrage. Once again the beowolf narrowly avoided every deadly strike and lashed out when it saw an opening, this time slashing across his chest.

"Ben stop! You're going to get yourself killed!" Eve shouted.

He still paid her no mind as he returned to the fight, though he was slowing down. Apollo's time was running out. The beowolf seemed to notice and went on the offensive, this turned out to be a fatal mistake as Ben caught one of its claws in his grapple and wrenched the arm down. Then he planted a foot on its chest and ripped the arm from its body.

The beowolf howled in pain and that seemed to awaken Ben somehow as he roared in anger. He struck the beowolf down with his free hand, and he then proceeded to savagely beat it to death with its own arm, screaming madly the entire time.

Nina covered her mouth in horror, but Eve ran toward Ben and wrapped her arms around him from behind, hugging him tightly.

"Ben, please stop! It's over, you beat them. You can stop now!"

Ben froze and went silent, his heavy breathing was the only sound as the now mutilated arm in his hand dissolved into nothing.

"Please come back to us!" Eve cried.

He slowly turned and met her gaze, she saw a tear streak down only from his left eye and his mouth trembled as if he desperately wanted to say something but couldn't. Without warning, he fell forward out of her grasp and into a heap on the ground.

Unbeknownst to the team, a lone observer in the woods whistled in wonder. "Well, that's something you don't see every day."


	13. Chapter 12, Walk it off

'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!' Ben yelled within his mind.

'What do you mean?' Apollo answered.

'You nearly got us killed!'

'Perhaps, but considering that was my first time in combat after only studying you, I would say that I produced adequate results.'

'Adequate don't cut the mustard, Apollo.'

'Cut the mustard? You say the oddest things sometimes."

'It's a damned expression. Man, I liked it better when you stayed quiet. What the hell made you pipe up now of all times?'

'I saw that our chances of survival were diminishing and decided that it would be in our best interest for me to take action. All threats in the immediate vicinity have been neutralized, I fail to see how you can be upset with that fact.'

'Upset? No, I'm not upset, I'm pissed! You may not feel it when something tears a hole in my chest, but I sure as hell do.'

'My apologies, though the wound you received is merely a flesh wound. You will live.'

'For a computer, you're kind of an asshole. Ya know that?'

Apollo responded, but Ben couldn't make out what he said. The voice was getting fuzzier and more distant as the moments went by until there was nothing.

'Uh, hello?' No response. Ben felt uneasy, maybe this was finally it and he ran himself out of power for the last time. It was always a possibility, it's not like there are any experts out there who could fathom when his body would finally give out. What seemed like an eternity of silence passed before he started hearing someone softly humming a song. It was a female, and a tune that sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.

Ben smiled. "That sounds nice."

"Nina, he's awake!" Eve called to her sister, who was keeping an eye on their surroundings while Eve cradled Ben's head in her lap. He groggily opened his eyes, and Eve breathed a sigh of relief seeing that the right one was back to its normal white color and not the demonic looking red that she saw earlier.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this, young lady." Ben said groggily.

Eve's temper nearly flared but she reined it in, not knowing what kind of condition Ben was in and simply flicked his nose.

"You've got that right, for such a tall guy I'm looking down on you quite a bit lately."

"I'll get right to work on that." Ben groaned as he sat up and rubbed his head, which made him realize that his hat was missing. Frantically, he started looking around for it.

Eve rolled her eyes and held out his hat, glasses, and torn shirt to him.

"It figures you notice your hat's gone, not the fact that we patched up your head and chest while you were out." Nina teased as she strolled up.

Ben smiled as he looked down and inspected the girls' work. "What can I say? I have my priorities. Thank you for the repair job." He slipped on the shirt and then his hat, wincing slightly as it passed over the bandage on his head.

Eve wanted to ask him about the numerous scars on his body, but now wasn't the time. So she threw her hands up. "You're hopeless when it comes to that stupid hat."

"This hat's been through a lot with me."

"Whatever you say, so what was with you earlier? It seemed like you weren't all there." Nina asked.

Ben's face grew solemn. "I wasn't all there. We just met Apollo."

Eve blinked. "Say what now?"

"Remember the A.I. that I told you about that helps me run my prosthetics? Well, it's self aware, and its name is Apollo."

"You said 'we' just met it. That includes you?" Nina asked.

"Yes ma'am."

Nina crossed her arms. "I find that hard to believe, how have you never noticed it before?"

He shrugged. "I've never noticed it because the only thing it's ever done in the past is run calculations that let me apply the amount of power that I need for what I'm trying to do."

"What made it act up now?" Eve asked.

Ben recounted the conversations that he had with Apollo. The girls were speechless when he was finished, until Eve exploded.

"YOU IDIOT! What the hell were you thinking? Giving that… thing, control over your body. That's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of someone doing…"

Ben remained silent as she continued on her tirade. Nina was beginning to get scared for him, she had never seen her sister this furious before. Nina was shocked as she watched Ben, he remained quiet and stone faced the entire time Eve thoroughly ripped him a new asshole. Once she was red faced and out of breath, Eve finally noticed that he wasn't reacting in any way to her.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!" Eve yelled.

"Are you finished?"

Right before Eve blew her top again, Ben held up a hand to stop her.

"I'll admit, I deserved that. You guys did an outstanding job of defending yourselves while I was… incapacitated. But even with that, Nina ran out of ammo and you were knocked to the ground about to be killed. I had to do something, and handing over control was my only option." He balled his fists hard, making an audible grinding noise. "I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you guys because of me."

Eve softened. "Ben…"

"I don't know what in the world it is you see in me that's worth protecting. I'm just a damned gearhead that nearly got myself killed because I'm too damned stubborn to stop fighting, and then got resurrected as some kind of mechanized monster because my body is too damned stubborn to die. And to top it all off, I drug you guys right into the middle of this whole mess."

Eve's temper flared again. "Would you stop that? You keep talking like you're worthless, but you're not. You didn't drag us into a damned thing, we're here because this is what we WANT. And you say you couldn't live with yourself if one of us got hurt? Well, the feeling's mutual, bucko. Isn't that right, sis?"

"Damn right!" Nina exclaimed as the sisters high fived. "Like it or not mister heavy metal, you're stuck with us."

He blinked in wonder and shook his head. "Man, you two are something else. Thank you."

"You can thank us by getting your big iron ass up that cliff with us so we can pass this initiation." Nina teased.

Ben slowly stood up. "If we take it slow going back, I should be able to recharge enough for a climb if we need to."

Eve slapped him on the back. "That's the spirit, now let's get moving down that path you made for us."

He nodded and they started their trek toward the cliff. The team utilized Ben's path, stopping to rest from time to time. They were all on edge, Nina was completely out of ammo and Ben was slowly recharging. Eve still had half of the dust that she started the trip with and she knew that she was the only one who was still in good fighting shape. Despite all of their fears, the team made their way back to the base of the cliff without incident.

Nina whistled. "That's a loooong way up there."

"No shit, Sherlock." Ben spat.

Nina stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, I suppose our only option is to start climbing, right?" Eve interjected, trying to get them back to the task at hand.

"Let's get across these ruins before we start imagining how much this is gonna suck." Ben replied.

"He's right." Nina stepped forward and peered into the abyss below. "But what's the plan for that? Something took out this bridge and I don't know about you, but I can't jump that far."

Ben joined Nina at the ledge. "I could, but I don't know if I can do it carrying both of you at the moment."

"That doesn't help much." Eve thougth for a moment. "I have an idea. Ben, come here and let me see what you think."

Eve and Ben talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, leaving Nina out of the loop. Once they agreed on a plan, they turned their attention to Nina, and Eve smiled mischievously. "You're up, sis."

Nina raised an eyebrow. "Up for what?"

* * *

A few minutes later, everyone was in position. The impromptu plan was for Nina to run at Ben as fast as she could, plant a foot into his cupped hands, and have him launch her to the structure in the middle of the chasm. Then Ben would jump across with Eve on his back.

"For the record, I hate you and your stupid plans. Why am I the one getting thrown like we're doing a log toss?" Nina whined.

"Because I'm a runt, and you're bigger and faster than me, as you love to point out so much. Now would you quit saying such mean things to your beloved sister? It would be a shame if those were your last words."

Nina's eyes narrowed. "Bite me, are you sure you can do this, Ben?"

He gave a thumbs up. "Absolutely ninety percent sure I can do this."

"And the other ten percent?"

"You don't want to think about that ten percent."

"Thanks a lot." Nina grumbled as she readied herself in a crouch. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. Once she opened them, she was ready. With every ounce of strength she had, Nina took off towards Ben. Her heart racing, feet pounding, running as fast as she could she closed the distance and jumped up to step into his hands. Ben grunted as he threw her, eternally grateful that his A.I. was acting normally for now. Allowing him to calculate the force needed to attempt this stunt.

Nina held her composure longer than she thought she would, but at the apex of her leap she finally let out a scream that was amusingly mixed with terror and excitement as she easily made it to the structure. She tucked into a roll and ended up on all fours with her adrenalin pumping and completely out of breath. Once it registered in her mind that she had made it, Nina jumped to her feet with her fists pumping in the air. She cheered as loudly as she could, much to the amusement of her teammates.

Eve walked up beside Ben. "See, I told you she could do it." She patted him on the shoulder.

Ben chuckled. "Yeah you did. So, shall we join her?"

"Hell yeah!" Eve exclaimed as she climbed onto his back. Ben backed up until he was satisfied and readied himself.

"You ready?"

"Of course." Eve gripped his shoulders tight.

"Alright, hang on tight!" Ben launched toward the gap. Nina cheered him on as he sprinted. He leapt with all of his strength once he reached the ledge. Much like her sister, Eve started screaming as well, but any thrill she had turned only to fear when they both realized that they were falling short.

"Aw crap!" Ben quickly reached up and back to grab Eve under her arms and easily tossed the small girl over his head before she could react. Nina rushed to the edge and tried to catch her sister, only to get tackled to the ground by the force of her landing.

Eve turned back and yelled. "BEN!" She scrambled to the edge and looked down, but was forced to evade one of his grapples that flew past her and anchored into the floor of the structure. Once she recovered, Eve returned to the edge and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him dangling from the winch line below.

Ben looked up. "Girls, could you do me a solid and make sure we never, EVER do that again?"

The sisters looked to one another and busted out laughing loudly. Their levity was cut short by a piercing shriek and massive shadow that cut through the afternoon sky. Ben looked over his shoulder and toward the dark figure circling above them.

He spat. "A fuckin' Nevermore, outstanding."


	14. Chapter 13, Bird flying and knot tying

Eve and Nina looked in horror at the massive creature until Eve snapped out of it. "Oh no, Ben!" She peered back down and was relieved as well as slightly confused to see him still moving as he winched his way toward them. Once Ben reached the ledge, he clambered up and retrieved his grapple. With his arm reattached, he signaled for the girls to follow as he started running along the bridge toward the cliff.

Eve caught up and matched his pace. "Are you… okay? You went haywire the last time we saw a Grimm."

"I don't know why, but yeah, I think I am. Let's just get the hell out of here before that changes and my body locks up again."

"That's an idea I can get behind, now try to keep up!" Nina shouted as she sprinted past them. Eve picked up the pace as well, leaving Ben behind.

"Sonova bitch!" Ben huffed as he tried to keep up with little success. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the nevermore was preparing to launch an attack. He turned back to warn the girls. "Heads up!"

Nina and Eve looked back just in time to see the oncoming barrage of feathers. They split apart to avoid them as the feathers pierced the ground along the bridge. Ben spun and planted his feet as he knocked aside any feathers that would have hit him. The nevermore passed overhead and started making a wide arc to hit them again.

Ben turned back around and started running again. "You guys alright?"

"We're still alive." Eve replied as she helped Nina up.

"Then let's keep moving."

The team stayed together as they made their way to the end of the bridge. "Over here!" Ben called out as he ran to the start of a trail carved into the cliffside. The nevermore was on top of them again and launched another barrage. Ben and Eve teamed up and deflected everything within their striking range as Nina tried to come up with a plan from behind them.

"We don't have any cover if we start up this path!" She yelled.

"It's our only option, he's coming in for a landing here. Both of you, get up there!" Ben replied.

"What are you going to do?" Eve asked.

He grinned. "I never plan that far ahead, now go!" Ben picked Eve up by the back of her vest and tossed her up the trail into Nina's arms right as a gust of wind hit them from the nevermore landing. It shrieked and looked to the girls on the trailhead.

"Hey! You big ugly sumbitch! Come get some fresh meat!" Ben taunted as he jogged away, slapping his ass at the beast.

Nina watched him wide eyed. "He's insane!"

The nevermore took the bait and started chasing Ben. It easily caught him and brought its beak down to snap at him, but he spun and punched it aside. It quickly recovered and rammed its head into Ben, flinging him toward the cliffside.

Nina and Eve watched in awe. They were desperate to help but Eve was the only one who still had ammo. The nevermore would tear her apart if she went in close, so a long range attack would be her only option, but she risked hitting Ben in the process. She anxiously waited with her swords at the ready, looking for an opening to strike.

The massive beast was on top of him almost instantly, but he rolled out of the way right before it crushed his head into the ground. Ben rose to his feet just in time to find the nevermore's open mouth coming at him. He tried to step aside but it managed to clamp down on his right arm. "Shit!" Before he could try to smash it over the head with his left, the nevermore lifted him up and started shaking him around.

Eve launched a fire blast into its back, knocking the bird off balance which allowed Ben to plant his feet next to the edge of the cliff and ram his anchors into the ground.

He looked to Eve and shouted. "Hit it again with everything you've got left!"

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it!"

"You asked for it…" She whirled and sent a massive fireball at the nevermore's back, pushing it toward Ben, who in turn pulled its head and wrenched it off of the cliffside behind him. The nevermore refused to let go of his arm, so he struggled to hold up the weight of the toppled creature until the ground gave way beneath him. "Crap…" He groaned before he was pulled down into the abyss.

"Oh no…" Eve bolted for the edge with Nina right behind her. Right as they arrived and peered down, the nevermore flew upwards past them with Ben trailing behind it at the end of his winch line, laughing maniacally the as he whooped and yelled. "YEEHAW!"

Nina sighed. "You've GOT to be shitting me."

Eve screamed. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Hold on! I'll be with you ladies in a minute!"

Nina grabbed Eve. "Let's get up this trail, they're going to the top."

Eve followed as she grumbled to herself. "I'm gonna kill him if he doesn't kill himself on that thing."

Ben winched himself closer to the Nevermore since his arm was still trapped within its beak. Once he was close enough, he clambered his way up and onto the nevermore's back. 'Alright, now I'm here, what's the next move, genius?' Ben thought to himself. The nevermore flung itself at the cliffside in an attempt to scrape him off, but Ben shielded himself with his free arm and managed to stay on.

* * *

Eve and Nina arrived at the top of the trail to be met by Professor Ozpin and Glynda.

Ozpin greeted them. "Congratulations ladies." He looked to the trail behind them. "Where is your teammate?"

Eve growled. "King Dumbass is hitching a ride."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

As if on cue, the nevermore rocketed toward the sky behind the girls with Ben clamped onto its back.

"Oh, I see." Ozpin stated as he took a sip from his mug.

Ben saw the group below and shouted. "You guys may want to watch out, this thing is pissed!" He tried to ram his claws into the beast to kill it, but he couldn't get them more than a couple inches in. With that failing, he resorted to hammering it in the back.

Nina studied the creature and looked for a weak point anywhere on its body. Ben's claws were barely able to breach the surface of its thick hide. Then she saw something, there were jagged scars on its neck from a previous battle. 'Bingo.' She thought to herself.

"Go for its neck Ben! The skin isn't as thick there!"

"That's a novel idea! How do you suppose I do that? It's all I can do to stay on this thing!"

"I can't think of everything for you!"

Ben grumbled. "Thanks a lot, now how the hell am I supposed to attack its thro…" He stopped short when he noticed his winch line still out and he smiled wickedly as an idea came to him. Ben let out more winch line and spun an eye loop into it that he lassoed around the nevermore's neck. As soon as he started winching in, the bird opened its mouth and released his arm, causing the makeshift noose to start slipping. He quickly spun a loop the opposite direction and put that around its neck as well, creating a clove hitch knot that he continued to winch tighter around the beast's neck.

Once it started choking, the nevermore spun wildly to shake Ben loose. But the knot held tight as he continued to apply pressure. Once the lack of oxygen kicked in, they began to lose altitude. Ben pulled harder, and as the winch line began to cut into the bird's throat, it lost consciousness and tumbled toward the ground.

Eve covered her mouth. "No…"

'This is why I hate flying.' Ben thought to himself as he spiraled downward on the nevermore's back. The knot was pulled too tight to get it loose and jump, so a crash landing was in the works. As they tumbled, the bird's wings would spread out from time to time and slow their descent slightly. Ben took notice of this and grabbed onto one of the wings with his free hand to try and control their descent. It took a bit of trial and error, but he managed to make them glide upright as they fell, albeit with a continued slow spiral.

"Clear the way!" Ben yelled as he neared the ground. Everyone scattered except for Ozpin and Glynda. The nevermore crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust that blew past the steadfast teachers. Once the dust cleared, Ben could be seen rising from the corpse of the beast reattaching his arm. He finally noticed the teachers in front of him and froze. "Uh… ta-dah?"

Several moments ticked by until Ozpin finally broke the silence. "That was… impressive, young man. Very unorthodox, but impressive none the less. Congratulations, your team has-" He was cut short by Eve, who stomped past him and marched up to her teammate.

"Hey E-" She punched him hard in the face.

She grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled his face down to her level with her eyes brimming with tears. "Don't you EVER tell me to do something like that again! Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought that I had killed you! You big… dumb… MORON!" She emphasized each word by pounding on his chest as she buried her face in his shirt.

He rubbed his sore face. "Eve, I…"

She silenced him with a glare. "You're not alone anymore, you know? We can help you now, don't you trust us? I don't want to see you trying anymore of that macho lone-wolf bullshit trying to get yourself killed, are we clear?!"

Ben's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yes, I'm sorry. Are you two alright?"

Eve continued her glare for a moment, then sighed and finally blinked as she wiped away her tears. "Yeah, we're fine."

Ben smiled, relieved. "I'm glad."

Ozpin cleared his throat. "As I was saying… Congratulations, you have all returned with the item that you were tasked to retrieve.

"OH!" Nina jumped as she realized that the rifle was still slung across her back. She removed it and presented it to the older man, who held up his hand.

"I've noticed that you have become quite fond of that weapon, young lady. How would you like to keep it as a gift for passing this test?"

Nina gasped. "Are you serious right now?!"

He smiled knowingly. "I am quite serious. You displayed remarkable skill with that rifle, it would be a shame to take it away from you now."

Nina jumped and cheered, and then she began to hug the rifle in an amusing display of affection. Ben snickered at the sight until Eve jumped up and slapped him in the back of the head.

Glynda finally broke her silence after studying her scroll the entire time everyone else spoke. "Despite your success during this test, you also had some troubles that I noticed. Ben, do you have any idea as to what happened that caused your body to lock up in the way that it did?"

Ben stiffened at that. "I'm not sure ma'am, I believe my A.I. might have malfunctioned."

"I see, then what happened to change that? And why did you act so recklessly when you started moving again?"

He looked to the ground. "It's… complicated."

Glynda's stare was unwavering. "In that case, here's what is going to happen. In addition to training your team, we need to keep an eye on you to find out why that happened and what to do to keep it from happening again. An incident like that could cause you to be a danger to your team and everyone around you. Allow me to introduce your instructor." She called out, seemingly to no one in particular. "You can come out now, Mr. Braun."

Eve, Nina, and Ben looked around but they saw no one else in the vicinity. That's when they heard him speak.

"Of course, ma'am."

Ben turned to where the voice came from to find a man who wasn't there a moment ago, and who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Mr. Braun, as they now knew him, looked to be in his 20's, was barely over five feet tall and fairly stocky, with dark skin, brown eyes, and shoulder length black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a pair of camouflage pants and matching long sleeved shirt with dark armor over his chest and shoulders. The color of the camo seemed to change and match his surroundings as he walked toward them. He also carried an intricate looking long bow slung across his back.

The newcomer grinned. "Good afternoon. I'm Tanner Braun, and I'm going to make sure you guys don't get yourselves killed."


	15. Chapter 14, Forward march

"I don't like this one damned bit." Ben grumbled.

After the team passed their initiation, the real work began. If they weren't at their day jobs or sleeping, they would be training with Tanner wherever he told them to meet him. Ben was originally supposed to be trained under Tanner's supervision alone to keep him off of the records for the time being. Eve and Nina wouldn't stand for that, so they ended up joining him for training that, in a word, was grueling. Especially for Ben, who was told to keep wearing his hoodie and gloves while training to keep from drawing attention to himself in public.

"What he said, just more of it if I could." Nina gasped.

They had been running throughout the city for a couple hours now with Tanner following on his motorcycle.

"You're not supposed to like it, you're supposed to get stronger, son." Tanner stated.

Ben stopped in his tracks and spun to face him. "Son?! Mother fucker I'm older than you, I have a yard of cock, a bucket of balls, and enough metal in my body to build that scooter of yours and you call me son?! Get that shit outta here."

The girls both rolled their eyes, but Tanner was unfazed.

"You have quite the colorful vocabulary. Seeing as you want to stop here, I don't suppose you'd mind jumping to the top of that building and back down for me."

"Fuck you."

"Maybe later, now you'll have to do it twice."

Ben growled.

"Three times." Tanner smirked.

Ben spat and walked over to the building that Tanner specified to do as he was told. Tanner looked to the sisters gasping for air beside him.

"You two take a breather while he's busy."

Nina and Eve collapsed to the ground at those words. Once she relatively caught her breath, Eve looked to Tanner, who was watching Ben complete his task with stern eyes.

"You don't like him at all, do you." Eve's sudden statement snapped Tanner's attention to her. He mulled it over for a moment, and then returned to watching Ben.

"I can't say that I do."

"Why?" Nina asked.

He sighed. "Let me rephrase that. I don't trust him."

Eve narrowed her eyes at him. "Explain."

"He's quit being a huntsman before. I've come to find that if a man quits once, he'll do it again. I'm riding him hard in order to find out if he has any more quit left in him." Tanner turned back to the girls. "And since you two were so adamant about sticking with him, you're going to go through the same training as him. Well, almost the same. Barring a few 'special' exercises due to his… unique, build."

"He will never break, you know that, right?" Eve stated flatly.

"No, I don't know that. Everyone breaks, everyone has a limit. I'm going to find his and it won't be just because he runs out of power. Tell me, why do you think of him as unbreakable?"

Eve thought for a moment. "He has been through so much already and he hasn't broken yet. When I looked into his eyes I could tell, he'll never stop. Ben will keep pushing, he'll keep moving forward until his body falls apart around him. And even that may not stop him."

Tanner continued to watch Ben as he touched the ground and jumped back up for his final trek to the top of the building. "That's a very interesting opinion Eve. But tell me this, what caused him to lock up in the exam and nearly get you two killed?"

Eve looked to the ground. "I-I don't know."

"You see, that's a problem. He has a weakness that I need to find out about before it becomes a problem again."

Ben landed hard in front of them breathing heavily, and staring Tanner down. "Alright Tanner, what's next?"

"That's the spirit, we continue our little run."

Ben chuckled, and then smiled wickedly as he rested a hand on the handlebars of Tanner's bike. "You keep throwing around 'we' and 'our' quite a bit, but you're the only one not running thanks to this little scooter of yours."

In the blink of an eye, Ben gripped one of the handlebars and bent it straight up. Tanner was speechless, and the sisters tried their hardest to keep from laughing.

Ben released the bike and stepped back. "Alrighty then, shall we continue our run?"

Tanner composed himself and cleared his throat. "So that's how it's going to be."

"Yup."

"You realize you're gonna have to fix that, right?"

"If that's all the madder you're gonna get, then I think we'll get along just fine. I'll tell you what, how about you join us for the rest of the run, and I'll carry the bike along the way and fix it when we get back to the junkyard, deal?"

Tanner dismounted. "So you'll carry around my two hundred pound motorcycle for the rest of the run and all I have to do is run along with you?"

Ben walked up to the bike and hoisted it onto his shoulder. "Yeah, pretty much."

The smaller man laughed at the absurd sight of Ben carrying around his bike. "Alright, you're on. Remember that falling behind isn't allowed."

Ben smirked. "You won't have to worry about that. Now let's go, I'm getting bored here." Ben started jogging off with Tanner on his heels.

Nina pouted. "Ugh, he's such a showoff."

Eve laughed and grabbed her sister's hand. "Come on, we can't get beat by a guy carrying a motorcycle around."

* * *

The group was within a few blocks of the junkyard, their new finish line.

Tanner matched pace with Ben. "My grandma could outrun you, and she only has one leg!"

Ben snorted. "That's just when I chase her with a hard on, she's a quick one."

Eve and Nina groaned at that remark.

Tanner was also taken aback by the crude joke. "You're just full of colorful comebacks."

"Chalk that up to my time as a power tech, you learn to have a… special, sense of humor."

"That's one way to describe it. You feeling tired yet, Tin Man?"

"Only slightly, wee man." Ben huffed.

"Man, you are stubborn. I wondered why your file mentioned that so insistently."

Nina caught up alongside Tanner. "You're saying that there's a file on Ben?"

"Of course, you think Ozpin wouldn't pull a few strings and look into our big buddy here?"

Ben slowed to a stop and angrily looked at Tanner. "What did you see in this file?"

"That's none of your business." Tanner sternly replied.

Ben dropped the bike to the ground and snarled. "You tell me what's in that file, you little shit."

"Whoa, hey! What's your malfunction?"

"So that's how it's gonna be? Fine by me." Ben threw off his hoodie and deployed his grapples as he stormed up to the smaller man.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Tanner barely ducked under Ben's swing and pulled the bow off of his back as he backpedaled. Ben didn't respond as he pushed forward with his attack.

The girls were dumbfounded. "Nina, did I miss something? Why is Ben so pissed at Tanner?"

"I don't know. Tanner mentioned a file that Ozpin has on Ben and he went berserk."

"What would Ben want with a file on himself?"

Nina shrugged. "Beats me, what should we do? I'm not stepping between those two."

Eve looked on, fearful of what was wrong with Ben. "We may have to, let's see how this plays out."

Ben remained on the offensive as Tanner did everything he could to avoid his furious attacks.

'What the hell has gotten into this guy? He was joking with me a minute ago and now he wants to rip my head off.' Tanner thought to himself as he kept moving. He didn't want to hurt Ben yet, but he had to be stopped. He triggered a small motor at the end of his bow, this caused the high tension bowstring running throughout the body of the bow to spin. Which turned the weapon into a powerful cutting saw.

Tanner ducked under another attack and swung the cutting edge of the bow at Ben, who noticed the change in the weapon and blocked it with his forearm. Sparks flew when they made contact and Tanner was driven back by the force of the blow. He regained his balance and charged in again. This time, Ben caught the wire in his hand and clamped down to stop its spinning force.

'Impossible!' Tanner thought before Ben yanked the bow from his grip and picked him up with the grapple on his other arm.

"Don't hurt him Ben!" Eve ran up and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to her and softened when he saw the look on her face. Eve was afraid of him again, and that hurt him.

"Don't worry, I just need to coax some information out of him." Ben turned and looked Tanner squarely in the eyes. "Look, I don't give a rat's ass what that file says about me. It's all just words on a paper in my opinion. What I do want to know, is if it says exactly who built me."

"Fuck you, you fucking machine!" Tanner said through clenched teeth.

A faint red glow momentarily pulsed in Ben's right eye before Nina walked up and interjected. "How about we calm down and discuss this like adults?"

Ben sighed. "Look, will you hear me out if I put you down?"

Tanner growled and kicked him in the arm.

"You know, I'd do as he asked if I were you. Ben has the strength to squish you if he really wanted to." Nina stated bluntly.

Tanner scowled. "Fine… Put me down, and I 'might' not break my foot off in your ass."

"That's a start." Ben said as he gently lowered Tanner to the ground and released him.

After he retrieved his bow, Tanner glared at Ben. "Now explain yourself, and make it good."

"Let's just say, I have unfinished business with the guy."

Tanner crossed his arms. "You're gonna have to do better than that to keep me from expelling you for that little outburst."

Ben narrowed his eyes at him. "Do whatever you want, Skippy. That fucker needs to pay for what he did."

"What he did? Didn't he rebuild you after your accident? Shouldn't you be, I dunno, grateful for that?" Tanner scoffed.

Ben sighed. "Have you ever had surgery done without getting knocked out?"

"Uh, no?" Tanner cocked an eyebrow.

"I have."

"Go on…" Tanner waved him on.

"I told you guys that toxins don't affect me like a normal person. That goes for sedatives too." Ben gestured to himself. "That guy did all of this to me while I was awake."

"Bullshit, that's impossible."

"I assure you, it's quite possible. Every metal reinforcement, nerve attachment, and bone fusion was done while I was conscious and aware of what was going on, and he enjoyed every bit of my torture."

Eve covered her mouth. "My God…" Nina simply felt sick at the thought. She knew better than the others about how extensive Ben's modifications were, and exactly what it took to link him to the new limbs.

Ben continued. "How about this, does your file mention anything about the test subjects that were killed by the treatments harvested from my body?"

"No… there was nothing about that."

Ben looked to the ground. "There were twelve patients that died because he treated them with what was harvested from me. Innocent people who were just looking for a cure for what ailed them, and he laughed about it around me after the fact."

Eve touched Ben's shoulder. "Do you know what he looks like? Maybe we could track him down somehow."

Ben shook his head. "I was blindfolded every time he was around. That's what they came up with in order to keep his identity from me. All I know is that the guy sounds foreign, and he's a sadistic mother fucker." He looked to Tanner. "So that's it, does this file say anything about the wacko?"

Tanner was speechless. He didn't expect something like this. It's no wonder that Ben flipped out about his file. "No, everything in the file is just about you. Ozpin couldn't press any further without raising suspicion in the Atlesian military."

"I see… well, I'm sorry for going a bit mental there. Do what you want, I'll accept whatever punishment you feel is necessary. If I'm expelled, then so be it. Just please make sure these two get their wish, would you? They're what this world needs these days."

Eve stepped toward him. "Ben… don't-" She was silenced when Tanner held up his hand. He then rubbed the bridge of his nose and thought for a moment.

After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. "You're a real piece of work, you know that? Tell me, what do you intend to do if you catch this guy someday?"

"I don't think I could be held accountable for what I would do if I saw him." Ben stated coldly.

"Not quite the noble answer I was hoping for, but we'll work on that. How about you fix my bike by tomorrow and we'll call it even. Deal?"

Ben nodded. "Deal." He returned to the wrecked bike and hoisted it onto his shoulder again.

"Alright, I'll be in contact soon about meeting up tomorrow. It's been a long day, so you're dismissed." Tanner turned and walked away from the group.

Ben and Nina started heading to the junkyard, but Eve jogged up and tapped Tanner on the shoulder. "Um… thank you for, you know, not kicking the big dummy out of the academy."

He turned to face her. "Are you kidding? How could I have done such a thing after hearing that?"

She stepped back. "Yeah, you have a point."

Tanner sighed. "Look, I'm not a complete asshole. I'm just supposed to make sure you guys are up to par." He rubbed his head as he walked away and quietly muttered. "Maybe I've been riding you guys too hard."

Eve cocked her head. "What did you say?"

"Nothing, just talking to myself. Go on, join up with your team and get some rest." He tried to wave her off, but she continued to follow him.

"You could join us if you wanted." Eve suggested.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I've worn out my welcome for today."

"Ben will get over it. You know, even though you try to keep up the shitty drill sergeant routine, I can tell you're not that bad."

Tanner laughed. "You said something like that about the big guy too, and he tried to take me apart earlier."

"Well, you did kind of act like a prick about his file. Ben has his reasons for being the way that he is, just as you do. You two might actually get along if you both loosened up a little."

Tanner didn't respond to that, and Eve had something else on her mind. "Hey, you said that Ozpin has looked into Ben's past. Has he done the same with Nina and me?"

He nodded, and her heart sank at that. "Could you… maybe tell me what he found?"

"I think you know what he found, judging from your expression."

Eve could only look to the ground, but Tanner continued. "I'm not too concerned about it. You had no involvement with The White Fang personally. And from the sound of things, Nina has only probed around in databases that she shouldn't out of curiosity alone, with no ill intent." He grinned. "Just try to keep her from looking through Beacon's records without permission from now on, would you?"

Eve didn't know if she should feel relieved or scared that Tanner apparently knew so much about them, so she simply nodded in response.

"Alright, now go home and rest. Be prepared for anything tomorrow, I have a Bullhead to meet up with… on foot." Tanner sighed, annoyed.

Eve smiled meekly. "Okay, have a good evening."

Tanner only held up a hand in response as he walked away. "Loosen up huh? What the hell, I might as well give that a try." He said to himself.

* * *

 **Deep within a nameless laboratory in Atlas.**

A man tinkered away on a prosthetic arm as he hummed a strange tune, devoid of any normal rhythm to anyone else who might hear. The soldier who entered the room never did like hearing the scientist's humming, he found it unsettling.

"Sir…"

The man simply fell silent as he continued to work. The soldier knew better than to get wound up at being ignored.

"Si-"

The scientist clicked his tongue loudly. "I heard you. I don't have any interest in what you have to say while I'm working. I keep telling you mindless buffoons to not disturb me. And yet, here you are." He had an accent that in our world, would be considered British.

"Ben Shields has resurfaced."

He stopped. "Ah, now that does interest me. How is my favorite creation doing these days?"

"It seems that he is secretly training at Beacon Academy to become a huntsman once again."

"Oh? That is peculiar, considering Ben's previous opinion of our own academy when he left it. I did admire that about the dear boy, he is quite unpredictable. And his body's resilience is magnificent, I have yet to discover another test subject that can withstand even a fraction of the work that I did to him." He gestured toward a man who was attached to the prosthetic that he was working on. The poor soul had already died without the scientist noticing that the screaming had stopped, his face was twisted in a horrifying state of agony.

He clicked his tongue again. "My goodness, do you see what I'm forced to work with here? I had a good feeling about this one, but I'm afraid he turned out just like the others."

The soldier held his sickness for the scene before him at bay. "Sir, would you like for me to dispatch a team to collect him?"

"No, no, your foolish teams have already proven themselves to be worthless in that regard. I'm sure that all you will do is draw attention to yourselves in Vale, and in return, you will draw attention to us here. I cannot allow that. I think I shall take a trip to settle this myself, see if I can convince some locals to help me with recovering him." He stood up and wiped the blood and oil from his hands. "Do be a sport, and dispose of this… trash."

The scientist left the room, and the soldier couldn't hold it in any longer. He found the nearest trash bin and vomited, violently.


	16. Chapter 15, Weapons and foresight

**Quick note on this chapter, I threw in a cameo appearance of my favorite weapon from the Halo series, I think it would fit in nicely within the RWBY universe.**

A simple text on Ben's scroll read. 'Meet me at 201 S. Shooter Street and bring your weapons.'

Ben scanned the unmarked face of the building before them. "Uhh, so what the hell is this place?"

Eve pulled her face back from the darkened window. "Beats me, I can't see inside. It looks sketchy as hell."

"Dammit, where's Tanner? I busted my ass on that scooter of his, the least he could do is show up to get the thing."

Nina jumped up and slapped the back of his head. "Don't forget that you made me ride it here, I hate motorcycles."

Ben smiled as he rubbed his head. "Sorry, I stopped being able to ride motorcycles when I passed the four hundred pound mark."

"I appreciate you not giving it a try anyways and blowing out my shocks, Tin Man." Tanner's sudden voice from behind caused all three of them to jump.

"Dad-gummit, I need to stick a bell on you or something!" Ben exclaimed.

"Or maybe you could just pay better attention and you might just notice when I sneak up on you."

Ben crossed his arms. "Oh fuck off! I've never seen someone so damned sneaky. Ya fuckin' creep."

"Whatever." Tanner dismissed Ben as he walked up and inspected his motorcycle. "Not bad, considering what you did to it."

Ben feigned a look of shock. "I do believe that's the first compliment you've given me."

"Don't get used to it, and don't you ever pull a stunt like that again."

"If you two are done with the bro fest, would you mind telling us what you have planned today?" Nina interjected.

Tanner grinned. "I'm glad you asked. I'm switching things up a bit today. I'm sure you're wondering what's in this building behind me so I'll go ahead and tell you. It belongs to an old friend of mine who works on armor and weaponry. Which I've noticed that you guys are kind of lacking in both."

Ben looked sideways at Tanner. "And how do you expect us to pay for them? We're not exactly made of money, ya know?"

"Let me handle that, I have some history with this guy. Stay out here for a bit and I'll work out a deal." Tanner said as he walked toward the entrance and into the building.

Nina scooted up next to her sister. "Yep, definitely seems sketchy."

Suddenly, the team heard a booming voice from within the building that wasn't Tanner. It had a thick accent that in our world would have been considered Russian. Soon after, Tanner was thrown back out of the door and flat on his face.

The voice came closer to the entrance. "NO, NO, NO! I told you to stay away, leetle man! You have no business with Ivan anymore!" The door burst open and a massive man filled the doorframe. Ivan, as he was now known, was easily over seven feet tall and could simply be described as a wall of muscle and beard with jet black hair. He seemed to be built more like an Ursa than a man, and as he ducked and stepped out of the building, the reason for that became clear. He was a bear faunus.

Ben looked to Tanner. "A friend, eh?" Tanner just mumbled to himself as he rolled over and sat up.

Ivan bellowed. "Leetle man is no friend of mine, and neither are any of you, so go!"

Ben sighed as he turned and started walking over to Ivan. Eve grabbed his sleeve and he reassured her. "Don't worry, I'm just gonna talk with the guy."

Ivan chuckled as Ben approached. "You may think you're a big strong man, but you're only slightly bigger than the leetle man in my eyes. I'll crush you like a grape if you don't go away!"

Tanner finally rose to his feet. "Wait Ben, don't-"

"Shut up 'leetle man', I've got this." Ben turned back to Ivan with a smile on his face as he held out his gloved hand to shake. Ivan grinned widely as he took Ben's hand and started to crush it, but his smile faded and his eyes went wide as he quickly realized that the glove was hiding a prosthetic beneath it. Ivan tried to pull away, but Ben applied pressure of his own and brought the giant to his knees.

Ben's smile turned wicked as he spoke. "Hey there, Ivan, right? My name's Ben. You see, I'm not exactly a friend of the 'leetle man' over there either. In fact, he's kind of an asshole."

"HEY!" Tanner whined before Eve shushed him.

Ben pointed a thumb toward the others and continued. "My friends there are Eve and Nina. Tanner told us that you deal with weapons and armor. And that's something that interests us, so could you take some time out of your busy schedule to help us out? We would greatly appreciate it."

Ivan nodded quickly. "Outstanding." Ben said as he reduced his clamping force and helped Ivan to his feet.

"Your prosthetics are very powerful, can I see them?" Ivan asked as he rubbed his sore hand.

Ben laughed as he removed the hoodie and held out an arm. "What is it with everyone I meet wanting to see my metal bits? Don't you guys know that it's rude?" Nina snickered a little bit.

"What can I say? I'm a curious man." Ivan leaned in to inspect Ben's arm. "This is military grade hardware, where on Remnant did you find these things?"

"The Atlesian military." Ben replied.

Ivan stood upright. "Are you a soldier?"

"Nope."

He stroked his beard. "Then you are a huntsman?"

"Working on it."

Ivan clapped Ben on his shoulders. "Then we may do business!"

"If you don't mind me asking, what did Tanner do to piss you off so badly?" Ben asked.

The giant grunted as he dropped his hands from Ben's shoulders. "The leetle man accused me of selling weapons to the White Fang. I lost a lot of business during his investigation."

Ben nodded. "That sounds like something he would do. So, did you sell any weapons to them?"

Ivan glared at him, but Ben was unfazed. "No, those scumbags stole weapons that I made from somewhere and smeared my name by using them for crimes. I only make weapons or sell parts to people who will do good things with them. It is because of the White Fang's actions that I don't advertise on my building anymore and only do business with those who I see fit to wield something of mine."

"Fair enough, but you know Tanner was only doing his job."

Ivan eyed Tanner. "He could have been a little less of an asshole about it."

Ben laughed. "I don't doubt that at all. Can he at least come in with us without you two fighting?"

Ivan turned and walked back toward the building. "Make sure the leetle man doesn't touch anything!"

Tanner grumbled to himself as he followed everyone else inside.

Ivan burst through the door ahead of the group and threw his arms out wide as he exclaimed. "Welcome to my store, if you can't find what you need to kill something here, then you should get the hell out!"

Tanner sarcastically replied. "You didn't put that on your business card, did you?"

Ivan whipped out a business card and held it up to Tanner's face. Ben chuckled as he looked over Tanner's shoulder and read the exact phrase that Ivan just told them on the card. "This is my kind of business." Ben said with a grin.

Nina looked around, awestruck. "I can see why, this place is awesome!" She zipped through the aisles, scanning every weapon and accessory that she could lay her eyes on to learn about.

Ivan motioned to Ben and Eve. "Go ahead and look around, let me know if you need any help." He stared Tanner down. "Stay where I can see you."

Everyone split up and wandered the store. After he passed several weapons, Ben stopped at a minigun. "Man, I've always wanted one of these."

Ivan smiled. "That would fit a man like you nicely, pick it up and see what you think."

"Don't mind if I do." Ben hoisted the massive weapon from its stand and turned toward Eve. "How do I look?"

Eve looked up from some dust cartridges. "That's totally you."

Ben took a step and the wood floor beneath him bowed and cracked as if it were about to break. "Uh-oh."

Eve covered her mouth and tried not to laugh. "But the floor seems to disagree."

Ben shot her a dirty look before he gingerly placed the minigun back on its display stand.

Ivan didn't even try to hold back his laughter. "You must be quite heavy, my friend. That may cause a problem with you carrying a suitable weapon."

"What about this thing?" Tanner called out from a few aisles over. Ben made his way over to see what he found. It was a large and strange weapon, it reminded him of a seashell with a barrel large enough to be a grenade launcher, and a blade pointed the opposite direction of the barrel. Tanner read the tag attached to it. "Brute Shot. What the hell kind of name is that?"

Eve strolled up. "Maybe it means you have to be a big ol' brute to shoot the thing?"

"Well there you go big guy, it's perfect for you." Tanner teased as he slapped Ben on the shoulder.

Ben brushed Tanner's hand away. "Ha, fuckin' ha, very funny. Ivan's right though, I'm honestly too heavy to carry a weapon. I'd hate to go down in history as the only huntsman taken out of a fight because I fell through the floor. I believe I'll stick with my prosthetics."

Eve poked Ben in the side. "What about armor? You can't use aura to protect your body, and you kind of need it seeing as you keep throwing yourself into danger."

Ben scratched his head. "I'd love to have armor, but an unfortunate side effect of generating electricity is the production of heat. If I were to put on armor, it would be like putting my organs in a pressure cooker."

"That is a problem." Ivan stroked his beard for a moment in thought until it seemed that he remembered something. "I might have just what you need." He walked over to a rack and retrieved what looked like a kevlar vest and handed it to Ben. "Feel this."

Ben inspected the vest, it looked the same as any other that he had seen before. He touched his face to the material and was shocked at what he felt. "It's… cool."

"Yes my friend, that armor was made for soldiers to wear in the desert or other high heat environments. Ice dust is woven within the fabric in order to keep its user cool. Best of all for you, is that it's light."

"So what can it stop?" Eve asked.

Ivan held out a hand and Ben gave the vest back. Without a warning, Ivan grabbed a pistol from the counter and sent two rounds into the vest as he held it at arm's length. Everyone ducked, and Nina squeaked loudly before she yelled from the other end of the room. "What the fuck was that?!"

Ivan laughed. "Just a demonstration, nothing to worry about." He plucked one of the mushroomed rounds out and held it up along with the vest for the group to see. "It will stop most small arms fire. Though it can still be cut because it is fiber, I believe this will work well with your unique situation."

Ben smiled. "Works for me, do I get a discount since you pre-tested that one for me."

"I'll take it into consideration." Ivan looked to Eve. "Do you have anything that you would like to see? As far as I've noticed, you've only looked at ammunition so far."

"Thanks but no, I don't think I need anything other than ammo. I have my dad's vest and my mother's sword already." Eve fondly touched her vest.

Ivan eyed her sheathed sword and seemed to be deep in thought about it. "Could I see that sword of yours, Eve?"

Eve was hesitant, but she shrugged and unsheathed her sword for the giant. Ivan's eyes lit up when he recognized the blade before him. "Twain del Sole, I knew it! You're not going to believe this, but this sword was one of the last weapons that my father forged before he retired!"

Eve smiled wide. "No kidding, your dad made my mother's sword?"

He nodded vigorously. "My father was an excellent swordsmith, whereas I gravitated more toward guns and artillery. I can't believe that one of his swords walked right into my shop. This is amazing! Eve, would you do me the honor of letting me sharpen your sword? Free of charge, of course."

Eve looked to Ben, who couldn't help but smile because he could practically feel her excitement. She then looked back to Ivan and held out her sword for him. "How could I say no?"

"Wonderful!" Ivan eagerly took hold of Twain del Sole. "Feel free to keep shopping while I work, pick out any ammunition that you like, and I will sell it to you at cost. Maybe you could find something that can compliment your semblance while you shop." He turned toward the door to enter his workshop.

Eve's smile faded as she looked to the ground. "I… don't know what my semblance is."

Ivan froze in place and turned back to Eve. "You don't? Well, that just won't do. Let me get my wife, she may be able to help you with that." He faced another door behind the counter and shouted. "MADDIE! CAN YOU COME HELP ME?!"

An awkward silence followed until an angry woman's voice could be heard from behind the door. "Damn it, you bloody fool! Can't you do anything yourself? It's bad enough you scared the bejeezus outta me by firing one of your stupid toys in the shop a second ago." Maddie burst through the door. "Now you're bothering me when I… Oh, we have company." Her demeanor changed entirely to a much friendlier tone for the last bit.

Maddie was a wolf faunus, over six feet tall with silver hair pulled into a ponytail and sunglasses covering her eyes. She was very fit and muscular, as well as quite intimidating despite her friendly façade that she just assumed. "What can I do for you?"

Ivan seemed to be knocked down a few notches in Maddie's presence. "Honey, this young lady here needs some help discovering her semblance." He gestured towards Eve, who shrunk a little in the woman's gaze.

Maddie looked up and down Eve, making the poor girl more uncomfortable by the second. After what seemed like an eternity, she smiled warmly. "Of course, I'd love to help if I can."

Eve's eyes lit up. "Really, you will?"

Maddie nodded, and Ben looked at her quizzically. "If you don't mind me asking ma'am, how do you help someone with their semblance?"

Her attention snapped to Ben, which made him recoil a little in his mind. "My semblance allows me to see a person's aura. With a little bit of probing, I can figure out what a person can do with it most of the time. Sometimes I can even help someone unlock their semblance with a little persuasion of my own."

"That's… impressive." Ben replied.

Maddie returned her attention to Eve. "Come with me. I can't make any promises, but I'll help you if I can."

"O-okay." Eve did as she was told and followed Maddie through the door that she just appeared through.

Ivan beamed with pride as the girls walked into the next room. "That's my girl, she's one hell of a woman."

Tanner finally broke his silence as he looked around. "Hey-um, has anyone seen Nina lately?"

Ben looked around as well. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her in a while."

"I'm here!" Nina called out from a few aisles over. The three men rounded the corner and were awestruck at what they saw. Nina had her arms full of miscellaneous attachments and parts. As she placed them on the counter before her, the men were further perplexed as none of the parts had any rhyme or reason to them.

Ben looked up from the jumbled pile of parts. "What the hell are you building Nina, a robot?"

She laughed. "No, silly. These are the parts that I want to put on Marxie."

Tanner facepalmed himself. "Oh man, the girl's named her gun now. This is how it begins."

Ivan took note of everything on the counter. "Young lady, what exactly do you want to build? I've never seen such a combination of parts for one gun before."

Nina grinned like a child with a secret as she held up a dust crystal. "This is Density Dust, and it can change the density of weapons or armor."

Ben humored her. "Go on…"

"I want to combine this drum mag with a cartridge containing this crystal. This, in theory, would allow me to change the hardness of the bullets on the fly."

Tanner looked surprised. "That might actually work. You could fire bullets as soft as rubber, or hard as armor piercing rounds. How did you come up with this on your own?"

Nina tapped her glasses. "I am a genius, you know."

Ben crossed his arms. "Well genius, how do you plan on paying for these things? That scope and the drum are quite expensive."

The enthusiasm fled from her instantly. She hadn't thought of that. "I-um…"

Ivan laughed loudly. "This girl, she can design and build a weapon but she forgets about buying the parts! Tell you what, I really like this idea of yours. If you can make it work and show me how to do it myself, then you can have everything that you want for your Marx rifle."

Nina was ecstatic. "Really?!"

"Yes, but you only have a week to do so or I will come looking for my parts."

She grinned excitedly. "I'll only need a day."

"Ha! If you can do such a thing in a day, then I'll throw in Ben's armor and Eve's ammo for free!" Ivan scoffed.

"You're on!" She turned to Ben. "I'll need your help and tools tonight if you don't mind."

Ben was dumbfounded. "What the hell did I just get roped into?"

"Don't be a sourpuss, it'll be fun!"

Ben sighed. "You and I must think of fun in very different ways."

Maddie walked into the store with a very tired looking Eve trailing behind her. Nina excitedly rushed to her sister. "So how did it go?!"

Eve smiled weakly as Maddie decided to speak for her. "Eve has a very powerful aura, I tried as hard as I could but I couldn't unlock her semblance for her. It will be for the best that she discovers it naturally." Her attention travelled to Ben. "You're next, you have a very interesting aura within you that I want to examine."

'Oh crap…' Ben thought as he walked over to follow Maddie through the door.

"I'll have Eve's weapon sharpened before you leave." Ivan said as Ben passed by.

* * *

Ben found himself in a living room of sorts, full of hunting trophies that he assumed were Ivan's, well, they could also be Maddie's for all he knew.

"Have you ever heard the story about a man with two souls? Each one fighting for control over his body?"

Ben's attention snapped to Maddie. "Um, what?"

She waved her hand, dismissively. "Never mind, it's not important. Could you please sit down?" Ben did as Maddie asked as she took a seat across from him. "What is your name?"

"It's Ben Shields, ma'am."

She held up a hand. "Please don't call me ma'am, it doesn't sound right. Call me Maddie."

"Okay, Maddie. It's nice to meet you."

Maddie smiled. "Likewise. You know, you have a very interesting name. Shields, as if you were destined to be a protector. It's very fitting. Your spirit reflects that powerfully."

"Uh…"

She shook her head. "Where are my manners? You see…" Maddie removed her glasses, revealing that her brown eyes were dull and blank. "I'm blind, though my semblance allows me to see a person's soul. This, in turn, allows me to see marginally."

"I get it, so you saw something that has you concerned?" Ben asked.

She nodded. "But it's not something about you. That was just my excuse to talk with you alone."

Ben caught on. "This is about Eve, isn't it?"

"Correct. As you may have guessed from how tired she was, probing around within her soul was a daunting task. Her aura is raw, and very powerful, much like your own. Would you mind telling me what your semblance is?"

"I can generate electricity, which I use to power my prosthetics."

She nodded knowingly, as if she were expecting that answer. "Tell me, did you discover your semblance naturally?"

Ben looked to the ground. "No, I survived an electrical explosion involving Thunder Dust. My direct contact with the stuff must have unlocked my semblance."

Maddie clasped her hands together. "A traumatic event triggered your semblance, I can see that now. That's why your aura looks so erratic. Listen to me, Eve cannot be exposed to such an event as I fear her semblance could be a danger to herself and those around her if it were forced to the surface. I'm telling you this because of how similar your spirit is to that girl, and I can see that you have a strong, protective soul."

He sighed. "You've got it all wrong, I-"

"I have it exactly right, you have quite the beautiful heart and soul, despite what you think. And you have the strength to protect others. You just need to get past the fear in your mind to realize that power."

'Fear, that's popped up recently.' Ben thought.

Maddie smiled as she spoke softly to herself. "I can see why she likes you."

Ben didn't quite hear her. "What was that?"

She stood up. "Nothing, that's all that I wanted to talk about. You're free to go."

Ben stood up as well. "Okay, thank you for the heads up on Eve. I'll do my best to keep her safe. And thanks for the… enlightening conversation."

Maddie smiled as she held out a hand. "Anytime, you should come by and visit in the future. It's rare to see a soul like yours these days."

"I might just do that." Ben shook her hand and turned to leave the room.

Maddie looked at her hand as she thought. 'Such a warm soul cursed with a cold metal body, how cruel.' She looked back to Ben as he walked away. 'So strange, it does seem as if he has two souls within him. I wonder what the other one is like?'

* * *

Ben emerged to find everyone but Eve having a pleasant conversation. Even Tanner and Ivan seemed to be getting along. Eve was sound asleep in a chair with Twain del Sole propped up next to her. Once they noticed him, all eyes were on Ben.

"What did you guys figure out?" Nina asked.

"Maddie was just curious about my semblance. Apparently mine is really rare." Ben lied.

"She's not wrong there, I've never heard of someone being able to generate electricity on their own before I met you." Tanner said.

Nina stretched and cracked her knuckles. "Well, we'd better get home. It looks like I'll be working all night to build this contraption of mine." She turned to Ben. "You up for it?"

Ben looked to Eve as she slept. "I don't see why not, maybe it'll be fun. Somebody's gonna have to carry her home anyways. We'll swing by the junkyard and grab any tools you think we may need on the way to your place."

Tanner looked to Ben. "Don't overdo it you two."

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, showing some concern for us?"

"Hardly." Tanner chuckled. "I'm gonna need you guys on your game, we have a mission coming up within the next couple of days. It'll let us see if you guys are up to snuff."

Ben grinned. "It's about damned time."


	17. Chapter 16, Ready, aim-

Ivan was gingerly attempting to remove a tiny screw that was stuck on a customer's rifle. He had to gently and evenly apply pressure in order to keep from snapping it with his immense strength.

"Just… about… there…" Ivan said to himself as he stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth. Suddenly, someone banged on the door and broke his concentration. He snapped off the screw and bit his tongue at the same time.

"AAAAHHH!" Ivan roared angrily as he stood up and glared at the door as if he could incinerate whoever was behind it with a stare. He thundered toward the offender with every intention of unleashing hell on them. Ivan flung the door open and froze. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Hey Ivan!" Nina proudly held up her Marx rifle with a childish grin across her face. Ben stood behind her, looking far worse for wear compared to the vigor that Nina showed.

Ivan eyed the modified drum magazine suspiciously. "So… does it work?"

Ben answered. "I'd say it works, we tested it on everything from an engine block to a watermelon at the junkyard."

Ivan chuckled a little. "Are you going to stand there holding the thing all day, or shall we head to the back and fling some lead?"

Nina withdrew her rifle and smiled as she bounced in place eagerly. "Lead the way!"

The giant lumbered back into his shop with Nina and Ben on his tail. At the back of the room, they entered a door that led them into an amazingly large shooting range. It was then that Ivan turned to face them.

"Ready your weapon, I shall see what I can dig up to test it on." Ivan said as he left the two alone.

Nina was absolutely brimming with excitement, she glanced all around the range and delicately checked over Marxie for the millionth time. She looked to Ben and smiled. "You think he's gonna like it?"

Ben smiled reassuringly. "What's not to like? We know that it works."

"Thanks for all of your help, by the way."

He shrugged. "I didn't help much, you did all of the technical stuff."

"Maybe, but you did the finish welding on the case that holds it all together."

Ben looked at her blankly. "Huzzah, I welded some metal together. I'm serious, you've created something incredible with a mishmash of parts that had nothing to do with one another."

Nina blushed shyly and returned her attention to the rifle. Ivan returned carrying a piece of armor and something else tucked under his arm that he was obviously trying to hide. Once he was sure that the coast was clear behind him, Ivan closed the door and faced the duo.

Ben eyed him suspiciously. "What's with the covert maneuvers, chief? Got something special under yer arm there?"

"It's the only thing I could find for a good test." Ivan's eyes nervously darted back and forth before he revealed the hidden item. It was a fairly large teddy bear with silver fur.

They were both at a loss for words at the fact that the weapon builder had such a thing in his possession. Ben finally broke the silence. "Uh okay, a stuffed bear. What's the deal with that?"

"It was a gift from Maddie."

At those words, Ben and Nina backed away fearfully as if the bear itself would attack them.

Ben shivered, remembering how even he felt intimidated by Maddie during their last visit. "Are you nuts?! Maddie will kill us all if she finds out you were gonna shoot at that thing!"

Ivan smiled nervously. "It's okay, she's out shopping right now. And besides, you know that it works, right?"

Nina shook her head. "You're a moron. There's gotta be something else you can use."

"There is nothing else here that would simulate tissue better than this. We have to test it out."

Ben grumbled and scratched his head. "Ah, fuck it. Why not shoot at me?"

Nina and Ivan stared at Ben as if he had sprouted wings. "W-what… why?" Nina stammered.

"Because I know it works." He turned to Ivan. "And that's a gift from your wife, ya fuggin' idiot. It should be cherished, shame on you for suggesting we shoot at it."

The big man recoiled at Ben's harsh words. "Okay, okay. How about we start off with the armor, no?" Ivan did his best to avoid Ben's angry, piercing gaze as he hung the chest piece on the target holder and sent it on a track to the back of the range.

"What's that from anyways?" Ben asked.

Ivan laughed as he recalled the memory. "This armor is from a customer who skipped out on paying for it. I tracked him down and ripped it from him in the middle of the city."

"Couldn't you sell it to someone else?"

"Of course not, it has already been tainted by someone who was dishonorable and not worthy of my work. This is nothing more than scrap metal now."

Nina stepped up to the table and plugged a small cable from the rifle scope into a port on her glasses, causing the right lens to look as if it went dark from the outside.

Curious, Ivan leaned in and inspected the unusual setup. "What is that for?"

"I linked the thermal scope that I picked up to a modified pair of my glasses."

He looked puzzled. "Why?"

"For now, it will help me aim faster. I didn't have time last night, but I want to make the system wireless so I could use it around corners, or even fire it remotely with a turret stand."

Ivan's eyes lit up. "Incredible, you did all of this in one night? You are amazing!"

Nina could only blush at the praise, so Ben spoke for her. "Yep, she's amazing alright. Now let's put some holes in that armor."

She returned her focus to the task at hand and took aim at the chest piece. After adjusting a small dial on the side of the rifle, she sent a round into the armor. The bullet caused a small dent, but didn't penetrate the well made piece.

Ivan scoffed. "You underestimate the quality of my work, I may be getting paid after all."

Unperturbed, Nina turned the dial a little more and sent another round down range. This one cleanly pierced the armor and embedded itself deeply into the catch wall at the back of the range. An action that effectively shut Ivan's mouth.

Ben smirked. "One test down, one to go, big boy. Don't underestimate the quality of HER work."

Nina simply breathed a sigh of relief at the success. Her levity was short lived when she remembered what test was next. She turned to face Ben. "Are you sure about this? You don't have to do it."

"Don't sweat it, I've been shot before." Ben answered as he removed his shirt and then the kevlar vest underneath.

Ivan shook his head. "You are insane, my friend. Though judging by the road map of scars on your body, you are no stranger to pain. I wish you luck."

"Thanks bud." Ben walked past the table and turned to face Nina about halfway down the range with his hands clasped in front of him, understandably protecting his groin.

Nina was at war within her mind. 'He's NUTS! I can't shoot him. Even the watermelons that we shot cracked under the softest setting. Ben can't even protect himself with his aura!'

Ben could see the anxious look on her face as Nina looked down, her eyes darting back and forth as she thought. "Nina." She looked up at Ben as he smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I trust you and your skills. I'll be fine." He closed his eyes and prepared himself for the hit.

Somehow, Ben's absurdly calm nature managed to help settle Nina's nerves. She turned the dial all the way back and took aim at his bare torso. After a few breaths, she called out. "Ready?"

"Ready." Ben replied.

The following silence was unbearable until finally, a shot rang out. Ben clutched his left shoulder just shy of his prosthetic and stumbled backward.

The echo of the gunshot faded away and it was silent again, until Ben broke the silence. "OWW!" He comically jumped up and down and pranced around in pain.

"OH MY GOSH, I'M SO SORRY!" Nina exclaimed as she leapt from her shooting position and ran up to Ben with Ivan following close behind. "Let me see, let me see!" She frantically waved her arms around, trying to imagine what went wrong.

Finally, Ben stopped moving around and pulled his hand away from the impact point. This revealed, not a puncture wound, but the former bullet. It was strangely splattered like some kind of jelly. "Cool!" He peeled the softened bullet away and held it out for Ivan and Nina to see.

Ivan took hold of it and played with it like putty. "Amazing!"

Nina eyed Ben as he rubbed his sore shoulder. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No…" He looked at the fiery red mark as it started to swell slightly. "Well, I'll clarify. I'm not 'injured', but that did sting like a sumbitch. That's exactly how a non-lethal round should impact. It'll take the fight right out of somebody without serious injury."

Ivan roared with laughter. "This guy! He gets shot and says that it just stings, HA!" He slapped Ben on the shoulder. "You are either not right in the head, or you have massive balls of steel!"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Again you mention my metal bits, how rude. So, are you satisfied with what you've seen here?"

Ivan continued to play with the amusing soft bullet as he thought. He then looked to Nina. "Young lady, you have done what I thought was impossible. In one day, no less." Nina blushed as he continued. "I can tell that you poured your heart and soul into your weapon. I can't sell copies of your creation, it is yours, and yours alone. Take it and do amazing things with it. Just do me a favor and if anyone asks where you got the parts, send them my way, would you?"

Nina squealed loudly and hugged the giant tight. "Of course I will. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Ben had to hold back a laugh as Ivan was noticeably flustered at the sudden embrace. He slipped his vest and shirt back on, then his scroll buzzed with a message notification. After checking it, Ben put the scroll away.

"Hey Nina, Tanner wants us to meet up. And get this, we're apparently going to his place in the city."

She let go of Ivan. "No kidding? I figured he lived at Beacon or something."

Ivan composed himself. "That sounds important, you two had better get going."

"Thanks again Ivan, I'm sure we'll be back. And we'll try to send some good business your way when we can." Ben shook his hand.

"You're very welcome. Stay safe out there."

Ben and Nina walked out into the shop to leave. "Hi Maddie!" Nina could be heard by Ivan as she met his wife on the way out. He heard them exchange pleasantries as he gathered the ruined piece of armor and his teddy bear. He walked out into the shop and found that they had left already, leaving Maddie as the only one in the building with him. Ivan placed the armor in a scrap metal bin and turned to find his wife standing in front of him, sniffing the air.

"Tell me Ivan…" She said flatly. "I smell the bear that I gave you. Why are you walking out of the shooting range with it?"

"I-um… uh…" Ivan stammered, and then his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Shit…"


	18. Chapter 17, The first mission

"I never figured you to be a cat person." Ben noted as a fairly large black and white short haired cat stared angrily at the trespassers in his home from the top of a chair in the corner.

"That's Hank, I'd recommend leaving him alone. He gets a bit hostile towards strangers." Tanner mentioned absently as he rifled through a desk in the sparsely furnished apartment.

"Aww, he's just shy, aren't you sweetie?" Nina baby talked the feline as she walked up to pet him, only to get her hand clawed as soon as she was within striking range. "OW!" Nina jumped back and hid behind Ben as Hank hissed and growled at her.

Tanner looked up slightly and muttered. "Told ya so." Before he continued to rummage through the desk.

Eve strode up confidently. "You need to let him smell you before you run up and touch him, sis." She inched up to Hank with a hand outstretched. She paused a few inches away and waited for him to make a move. Boy, did he make a move. With the speed of a rattlesnake, Hank lashed out and bit Eve. "OWIE!" She jumped back and joined Nina behind Ben as the cat shot them a death glare.

Ben snickered. "Owie, seriously?" Eve jabbed him in the ribs.

Tanner didn't bother looking up. "Once again, told ya so."

Ben walked up to the glowering feline and stood still. He removed his sunglasses and hat, then bowed down until his face was dangerously close to Hank, who was emitting a low growl the entire time the large man invaded his space.

Eve started. "What are you-"

Ben held up a hand to silence her. Tanner even stopped his search to watch what he knew would be the inevitable outcome of Ben getting mauled. He was considering taking a video with his scroll if he could get it out fast enough.

Hank's green eyes never moved from Ben's white and grey eyes as the cat inched closer to his face. Hank looked like he was about ready to strike, but Ben remained calm and unmoved. As soon as their noses touched however, his growl dissipated and Hank gingerly sniffed up and down Ben's face. Once he seemed satisfied, Hank jumped onto Ben's shoulder and took a seat as he stood up straight and replaced his hat and glasses.

Eve and Nina were speechless, Tanner was mortified. "What the hell kind of black magic did you use on my cat?!"

Ben reached up and began to scratch Hank's chin with an index finger, causing the cat to purr with delight as he began to knead Ben's shirt. "No magic here. Like most things in life, if you approach him thinking about getting hurt, then you're gonna get hurt." He walked over and leaned down to bring Hank closer to Eve. "Here, try again."

Eve tentatively reached a hand out towards him. Hank emitted a low growl when she drew near. "Don't…" Ben commanded as he locked eyes with the cat, who fell silent with his ears laid back at the command. Ben's eyes returned to Eve as he nodded for her to continue. She swallowed and held her fingertips out for Hank to smell. Once he was satisfied, the big cat pushed his head into her hand and Eve smiled as she scratched his ears. Nina joined in and giggled as Hank seemed to love the attention all of a sudden.

Annoyed, Tanner clapped. "Alright, can we get to why we're here?" Hank snapped out of it and jumped down to the floor, much to the chagrin of the girls.

Ben simply turned his attention to Tanner. "Alright boss, what do you have planned for us?"

"I have a very important recon mission laid out for us." He opened up a folder and showed the team a photo that was taken from a long distance that showed a man of average build, dressed in White Fang attire, and wearing a menacing looking snake mask that complimented his own fangs showing from his mouth.

"Well, he looks nice." Nina stated sarcastically.

Ben added. "Yeah, looks like a ray of sunshine filled with unicorn farts. So what's the deal with him?"

Tanner's eye twitched slightly. "This isn't a joking matter you two. The man in the photo is simply known as 'Scraw'. He has no other known aliases. To put it simply, Scraw has preformed several heinous acts in the name of The White Fang. So much so, that he's become something of a legend within the group."

Eve's eyes never left the photo as she asked. "What kind of… heinous acts?"

"He's something like an assassin for them. Though he has no desire whatsoever to be secretive about what he does. He seems to crave attention, whether by making his kills as gruesome as possible, or dramatic if he can. Two teams have been sent to capture or kill him, and every member except for one was killed."

"Great, we haven't been here a month and Ozpin's already trying to kill us off." Ben stated grimly.

"Ozpin didn't assign this to us, I asked for it. And we won't be attacking him, the mission is to track Scraw down and report his location, that is all. We are under orders to not engage him."

"Um… if you don't mind me asking, why'd you volunteer us?" Nina asked meekly.

"You guys aren't 'officially' attending Beacon yet. You're unknown and off the records, which makes you perfect for gathering intel discreetly." Ben raised a hand and Tanner sighed. "You have a question?"

"Yeah, what makes you think we'd be any good at that? At Atlas I was trained to kill monsters, I'm no detective."

Tanner fumed, but Eve piped up. "Actually, it may not be that hard." All eyes turned to her as Eve continued. "They have rallies from time to time where they try to recruit new members. Maybe we could get a lead on him there?"

Ben eyed her quizzically as Eve shrugged. "Kind of hard to be a faunus and not hear about them."

"There's no way it would be that easy." Tanner tried to shut her down, but Nina interjected.

"She's onto something. Has anyone from the academy tried getting into a rally?"

"Not that I know of." He replied.

Nina continued. "I'm sure most of the students are afraid to try it, could you imagine what they would do to a huntsman if they were found out?"

Tanner shivered at the thought, as Ben simply smiled as he admired the talent that his teammates were starting to show. "Hell, if this guy is such a legend, we're bound to find something out about him at one of these get-togethers." The smile left Ben's face when he realized something. "I hate to point out the obvious, but Eve's the only one of us who could sneak in."

Eve flattened her ears at that realization. She despised The White Fang, and wanted nothing to do with them for the rest of her life. Though helping to bring in a monster like Scraw would deal one hell of a blow.

"I can do it."

Ben was concerned. "Are you sure about that?"

"How hard could it be? All I have to do is mingle a little bit and ask around about the legendary Scraw."

He didn't like it at all, but Ben figured that Eve knew what she was doing. "How do we find out about this little shindig?"

Eve thought for a moment. "When I was in school, the information was spread through word-of-mouth. With social media gaining popularity over the past few years, that's probably how it's done now. I'm pretty sure half of what's tossed around is false in order to weed out people that aren't clever enough to figure out when and where the actual rally is."

Nina's eyes lit up. "You don't say? That sounds like a fun challenge!" She dropped to the floor cross legged and rummaged around in her pack.

Ben looked lost. "Um, what's a social media?"

Eve stifled a laugh and patted his back lightly. "Holy cow, you've been really far out of the loop huh? We'll get you caught up later, caveman. You'll be liking and tweeting in no time."

He just stared blankly. "That's weird. When I like something, I don't usually make bird noises."

Tanner and Eve shared a laugh as Nina finally found what she was looking for and withdrew a beat up little tablet. "Tanner, what's your wifi?"

"Oh, uh… it should be ARCHER27, all caps."

She tapped the screen once. "I see it, what's the password?"

He cleared his throat, clearly not wanting to answer. Nina looked up. "I was being polite, I can break in if you don't want to say."

Tanner mumbled incoherently.

She cocked an eyebrow. "What? I didn't understand you."

He growled to himself. "It is hankismyhomeboy, all lower case, and no spaces."

The room fell silent aside from a slight chortle which escaped Ben's nose momentarily before Eve rammed an elbow into his gut.

"Alrighty, thank you." Nina returned her attention to the tablet and donned her ear buds as she got to work.

Tanner leaned in to Eve. "Should I be concerned at what she's doing?"

Sensing how nervous he was, Eve smiled mischievously. "I'd give it an eight out of ten on the 'possibly illegal' scale." Tanner's jaw dropped. "It'd be best to not think about it too much. So, what's the plan if I manage to get into this rally?"

Ben scratched his head. "We're looking for a guy that's supposed to be well known, right? How about asking around among the other newbies for rumors? Then maybe approach one or two actual members and see what they say. Then slip out before they catch on to someone asking too many questions?"

Tanner nodded. "That sounds reasonable, I knew you had a brain in that tin can you call a head."

"Kiss my shiny metal ass."

Before Tanner could reply, he was cut off by Nina sighing disappointedly. "That was too easy." She removed her ear buds and looked to the others. "Eve was right, they had roughly fifty false combinations of the time and location for their next rally passed around."

Tanner was impressed. "You narrowed it down already?"

"Of course! And we're in luck, it looks like there's a rally this Saturday. I have the address and everything."

He genuinely smiled for once. "Very good work. Alright, now let's get this show on the road."

* * *

The rain lazily dripped off of Ben's hat brim and long, dark raincoat as he surveyed an old warehouse with binoculars from atop a nearby building. The night sky occasionally lit up from lightning strikes.

"I don't see anything weird, how about you?" He jumped slightly at Nina's voice in his earpiece. Ben looked down at the rifle next to him as it panned back and forth on her custom stand driven into the roof surface.

"Just an old warehouse with a bunch of crazy cult people inside. I haven't seen anything unusual about the possible new recruits that have gone in either." He looked around. "It's getting a bit wet out here. Are you sure this thing will be able to stand up to some water?"

"It'll be fine, now get inside before you're soaked. Marxie won't stand out nearly as much as your big ass up there anyways."

"Alright, I'll be down in a moment." Ben shook his head as he smiled and thought. 'What's she gonna stick on this thing next?'

* * *

As Ben walked through the door, he was greeted by the sight of Eve and Nina, but no Tanner.

"Did the bossman take off already?"

"Yup, he said that he wanted to use the rain as cover to get into his hidey hole. Once he radios in, we're supposed to send Eve off." Nina answered from the chair that she was sitting on backwards, resting her arms on the backrest near the window.

Tanner's 'hidey hole' was a temporary lookout hut that he set up while surveying the area the day before. Tanner would be stationed among some shipping containers positioned south of the target warehouse, overlooking the back entrance and loading dock. While Ben and Nina would watch over the northeastern corner together, which included the front entrance, as well as what side windows they could see through to the inside. Eve would have a radio that constantly transmitted what was going on at the meeting to them, whereas the rest of the team had traditional radios that they had to key up to use.

Ben looked to Eve, who was fidgeting with her transmitter wire for the millionth time. She looked nervous, scared even. He couldn't blame her, Eve was essentially stepping into a lion's den and Tanner wouldn't let her take Twain del Sole.

Ben quietly walked up to her. "You sure you're alright with this? I'd understand if you called it off."

Eve looked to him. "I'm good. What's the worst that could happen?"

Ben hated that phrase, but he kept the thought to himself. "Nina and I will do our best to watch over you. But once you get inside, you're pretty much on your own, you know that right?"

"I'll be fine. Quit worrying about me." She growled.

He bent down to her level and looked Eve in the eyes. "Eve, I'm serious. Don't get in too deep. Keep your head on a swivel alright? If you call mayday, we're comin' in swinging."

Eve couldn't help but notice a bit of sadness in Ben's human eye. Before she could ask what was wrong, Nina strolled up to them. "You can swing all you want. Personally, I'll be sending some general hate and discontent downrange."

Ben stood up and chuckled, happy to have such a good sharpshooter on his side for once. Each of their ear pieces crackled to life and Tanner's voice was heard. "I'm in position and standing by, are you guys ready to kick this thing off?"

The sisters looked to each other, then toward Ben with wide smiles on their faces. With their confidence practically overflowing, he couldn't help but show a smile of his own as all three responded in unison.

"HELL YEAH!"


	19. Chapter 18, The rally

**Tanner's bio is up on the first page at this time.**

Three distinct gouges on the wall confirmed that Eve was at the correct entrance. She peered up at the looming warehouse from under her umbrella as a distant bolt of lightning briefly lit up the face of the building. "That's not ominous at all…"

A nearby door opened up, revealing a well dressed older faunus with grey hair and a beard.

"Good evening, young lady. I apologize for not being out here to greet you right away. It seems this rain won't let up. Please, come in out of this weather."

"Thank you." Eve put away her umbrella as she walked in past the man. She turned to face him and was greeted by the sight of a small Grimm mask held out before her.

"I believe this will fit you nicely. Run along now, the meeting is about to begin."

Eve nodded, took the mask and put it on. She then turned and walked down a hall toward the center of the warehouse.

"He sounded nice for a sociopathic criminal." Ben's voice echoed in her earpiece.

"Shut it Ben. Keep the chatter down unless it's relevant." Tanner scolded.

"Ten-four, understood." Eve honestly couldn't tell if Ben was being sarcastic or serious with that reply. She was snapped back to her situation when a man in a White Fang uniform addressed her.

"Stick to the right little girl."

Eve reined in her desire to sock the guy in his smug mouth for that comment. The last thing she needs is to blow her cover this early. She entered a makeshift stage area set up in the warehouse and joined the ranks of what she figured were the new recruits in the crowd. Eve subconsciously avoided letting anyone get a good look at her despite the fact that she was wearing a mask. She had a very rare moment of being thankful of her small size which allowed her to sneak in between everyone in her path.

Her ears twitched as Eve listened to the people who were gossiping in every direction. Most of it was irrelevant, but every now and then she picked up on people sharing rumors that they had heard of things that The White Fang have done lately.

'That sounds like a start.' Eve thought as she inched her way toward a group of three dog faunus huddled together that had to be in their teens. She waited patiently for a break in their conversation. When it came, Eve spoke with the meekest voice that she could muster.

"E-excuse me…"

The guys warily turned to the newcomer's voice, but quickly dropped their guard when they realized it was such a small girl addressing them.

Eve kept up the act. She detested it, but she tried to make a show of being as 'cute' as possible. "Um, I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about The White Fang." Eve twirled a lock of hair in her finger as she continued. "You see, I'm new to all of this and don't know what they're all about. Do you think you could help me out?"

The teens looked to one another momentarily, until the eldest of the group with ears like a Bloodhound spoke up. "Sure thing, what do you want to know?"

"Holy crap, I think she's a natural." Tanner mused.

"Well, I'd like to know…" She grilled them with a mixture of her own questions, as well as suggested ones from her team in the earpiece. After finding out that they really didn't know anything more than what she did, Eve thanked them and moved on. These tactics were used on a few more groups scattered around the room, but they yielded fairly similar results.

* * *

Back at their lookout, Ben was fidgeting with his scroll, getting more frustrated by the minute as he tried to navigate the touch screen using his nose. Eventually, Nina took notice of his struggle and turned in her seat to face him.

"Whatcha doin' buddy?"

Ben sighed as he dropped the device to his side. "Tanner said I can use this thing to monitor each of our aura levels. I'm just not having any luck with it."

Nina held out her hand and Ben gave her the scroll. After looking at it for a moment, she tried using her nose to navigate the screen. He grumbled a bit, thinking she was imitating and making fun of him.

"Well, no wonder you're having trouble. You can't see what's on the screen with the thing pressed up to your nose." She turned back to him. "What's with the sour look?"

"I figured you were poking fun at me." He muttered.

"Why the heck would I do that? That's the only piece of skin you've got that can use a touch screen."

Ben looked down. "I guess so. Sorry for thinking that."

"Don't worry about it. Remind me later and I'll see what I can come up with to help you out." She navigated to what he wanted. The screen showed Eve's, Tanner's, and her aura levels at the bottom, and they were all nearly full in the green. What caught Nina's attention though, was the fact that Ben's aura level on the larger portion of the screen was nearly half depleted and in the yellow. She turned to face him, concerned. "Uh, Ben? Are you… okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

Nina held the screen out to show him. "Your aura is kinda low."

He took it to see for himself. "It's always low. Remember, I gotta use my aura just to move." Ben could see that didn't ease her mind. "I'm fine, trust me." He placed the scroll in his pocket with that screen still up so he wouldn't have to search for it.

She wanted to press the issue, but both of them were snapped back to the mission when they heard Eve sigh over the radio.

Ben keyed his radio and asked. "What's up Eve?"

* * *

Eve found a place to hide with nobody nearby and fumed. "This is annoying, we're not getting anything out of these guys."

Nina tried to calm her. "Don't sweat it sis, you're doing great. Who knew a guy that loves attention so much would be so hard to get information on?"

"I could've told you that it wasn't going to be so easy." Tanner answered.

Nina fired back. "But you didn't, so I'm calling bullshit on that. You were right there with us thinking this would work."

'Yeah sis, you tell him!' Eve cheered for Nina silently in her head.

Ben tried to diffuse the situation. "Take it easy you two. We still have a chance, she hasn't asked any of the actual members anything yet."

Tanner could be heard sighing. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Get ready to lay on the charm Eve. I doubt any members who actually know anything will be nearly as willing to talk as the newbies."

Eve looked around the room and spotted some of the uniformed members at the fringe of the recruit's group in various places watching over them. She took each of their measure to see which one she would approach, just in case she only had one chance at it.

She made a mental checklist for each of them. 'He's too full of himself, she looks like a noob, he looks… no, just no.' Eve shook her head and shivered, then continued on. Several more didn't look useful either. She was running out of candidates close enough to approach when her gaze stopped on a short, pudgy boar faunus that was about as wide as he was tall. 'Bingo.'

After sneaking through the crowd, Eve was close enough to talk with the guy. She resumed her 'cute' act that had been working so far and approached him.

"Excuse me sir? Could I ask you a few questions?"

He eyed her and grunted in response. Eve wanted to kick his teeth in for being so rude, but she continued.

"Could you tell me-"

He cut her off with an irritated snort and turned to walk away. That infuriated Eve, and shattered her act all together as she lashed out and wrenched the man's arm to turn him toward the wall. His face was full of fright as the little girl who was so timid moments ago was now full of fury and having her way with him. She deliberately ran his face into the corner, some stacked crates and shelving hid them from getting spotted by anyone nearby.

She growled. "Okay bub, seeing as you've pissed me off, here's how it's gonna go."

"Oh… shit…" Eve's entire team said nearly in unison over the radio.

Eve continued. "I'm looking for information, and I believe you might be able to help me out. Am I correct in that assumption?" She applied pressure to his already tweaked arm within her grasp.

The man nodded furiously. "Yeah, yeah! I'll tell you anything you want to know, just please let me go!"

"Be quiet or I'll break your arm off and beat you to death with it." Eve hissed as she checked for anyone nearby hearing.

"Eeep, sorry!" The poor guy squeaked.

* * *

From their vantage point, Ben turned to Nina. "Has she been hanging around me too long?"

Nina smiled. "Nah, Eve's always had a violent side when she gets pissed at someone."

He rubbed his jaw, remembering how hard Eve hit him after their initiation. "I can't see much with this rain, can you still see her with the thermal?"

"Yeah, she's in the clear for now."

"Let's hope your sister knows what she's doing." Ben turned back to the window and thought. 'Please just stay safe.'

* * *

Back in the warehouse, Eve continued interrogating her hostage. "I want an answer for every one of my questions. No beating around the bush, no stalling, and definitely no lying. Understood?"

He nodded frantically.

"Alright, let's start with something simple. What's your name and how long have you been a member of The White Fang?"

"Charlie, and uh-um… almost a year."

"Good. Who's in charge around here?"

"The ranked members are. They set up the rally, vet the new recruits, all that stuff."

"How many ranked members are here tonight?"

"A-about ten or fifteen-ACK!" Charlie writhed as Eve applied pressure to his arm.

"Is it ten or fifteen? There's a big difference."

"THIRTEEN! Thirteen, and there's supposed to be a special guest tonight."

"Oh, and who might that be?"

"I don't kno-AH!"

"I don't believe you." Eve hissed.

"I'm serious! Nobody that I've talked to knows either. The higher ups won't tell us! Please let me go!" The poor guy was nearly crying.

Eve crinkled her nose. She knew that he was telling the truth, it just would've been nice if the truth came with more information.

Tanner spoke into her earpiece. "I think we've gotten all you can out of that guy Eve. Let him go and send him outside."

Eve was confused about the last part, but Tanner must have had a plan. She saw a nearby exit that her prisoner could use. "Alright Charlie, here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to let you go, and you're not gonna say a word to anyone on the way out of that door right there." She tweaked his arm one last time. "You got that?"

He squeaked. "Yes ma'am!"

Eve let him go, and Charlie cradled his arm as he rushed out of the nearby exit into the cold and rainy night. He breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could regain his composure he felt something tug on his ankle.

"What the-WAAAH!" He cried as the snare that was now attached to his foot swept Charlie off of his feet and pulled him toward the back of the warehouse. Before he knew it, he was suspended in the air upside down near some storage containers. While fighting the urge to puke, Charlie managed to catch a glimpse at what was holding him up. A strange looking bow with a spool of rope attached to a motor at one end was wedged between two containers above him. Something moved out of the corner of his eye, causing him to panic. The snared man wiggled frantically in order to turn himself to what caught his eye, but nothing showed itself.

Charlie's heart nearly stopped when someone spoke. "You've been quite helpful to us, friend." The direction of the voice was impossible to tell. "Unfortunately, I can't give you the opportunity to go back and tell your friends about us."

"WHO ARE YOU!?" He cried.

The voice laughed. "You can call me Predator."

That answer sent chills down Charlie's spine. He desperately fumbled for words to beg for his life until he felt something sharp poke him in the side. The world around him began to spin, and right before he slipped into unconsciousness, the voice spoke once more. "Sorry Charlie."

* * *

Eve hid from anyone nearby and asked. "Do I even want to know what's happening out there?"

Ben answered. "I'll tell you what's not happening. My suspicions that Tanner is the creepiest sumbitch that I've ever met aren't being laid to rest."

Nina chimed in. "Tanner just took your friend out back for a chat."

"He'll be fine. Might have a hell of a headache when he wakes up in a couple hours, but at least it's dry in the container I left him in."

"Tanner, I hope that's not how you pick up a date on Friday nights." Ben teased.

"Only when I took your mom home, it was the only thing I could think of to shut her up."

Ben was speechless with his mouth agape. He blinked and turned to Nina, who was failing at her attempts to keep her laughter in check. Eve was doing better, but she couldn't help but smile from her hiding spot in the warehouse at the fact that Tanner seemed to be finally loosening up.

After overcoming his shock, Ben smiled as well. "Good one bud, you're learning."

"Thanks." Tanner answered, relieved that the poorly attempted joke was well received. To be honest, he had no idea how he let that slip. The constant ribbing that Ben kept giving him annoyed Tanner to no end, and he was determined to not stoop to that level.

'And what's with calling me bud?' Tanner thought. 'Does the big lug think we're friends now?' Unknowingly, he grinned to himself. He hadn't really made any real friends since his old team. Tanner's smile faded when he remembered them. Eve's voice over the radio brought him back to reality.

"Guys, I think the rally is starting." Eve came out of hiding and snaked her way toward the makeshift stage that a man had just stepped onto. He was tall, with dark skin, and looked to be in his thirties. His voice boomed over the crowd, silencing everyone nearly instantly.

"Brothers and sisters, thank you for being here with us on this beautiful evening." Some laughter could be heard regarding the dreary weather outside. The man continued. "It warms my heart to see so many new recruits eager to join our ranks."

Eve looked at all of the starry eyed people around her listening intently and muttered. "Just a bunch of sheeple if you ask me."

"I must say, we have quite a treat for you tonight. A good friend of mine is making his first public appearance in a very, very long time." The entire crowd murmured amongst themselves. "I'm sure that many of you have heard of him, and a few of you may even believe he is merely a myth. But I can assure you my friends, he is very real." The room fell silent at that. Suddenly, someone could be heard whistling a tune from the dark confines of the warehouse.

Ben recognized the melody and radioed in. "Hey Eve, who in there is whistlin' Dixie?"

She couldn't see well enough to give him an answer. The whistling continued and was accompanied by the sound of footsteps matching the rhythm of the song. The eerie combination seemed to fill the warehouse. Finally, a figure began to materialize from the darkness at the back of the room.

Chills ran down Eve's spine. "No way…"

Her tone said it all, something was wrong. Ben and Nina nervously looked to one another and Nina spoke. "You're scaring me Eve, what's going on?"

The man stepped up onto the stage as Eve hissed. "He's here!"

* * *

Tanner stood up from his post. He already knew who it was from the whistling alone, that sound was forever burned into his memory. "Scraw…" Tanner growled to himself as his face twisted in rage. He was right all along, that monster was back in Vale. He removed and dropped his earpiece as he started walking toward the warehouse.

"You're gonna pay this time, you bastard." Tanner stated grimly as he used his semblance to blend with his surroundings and he completely disappeared into the rainy night.


	20. Chapter 19, Win them over

"Tanner, what do we do?"

Several seconds passed with no response. So Ben tried again. "What's the plan, boss?"

Still nothing, Nina looked to Ben. "It's not like him to miss an opportunity to bark orders at us."

"Can you see him at his post?"

She shook her head. "He's been invisible to my thermal view since we started."

"Stay calm Eve. Don't make a scene." Ben tried to soothe her over the radio. "Tanner's radio must be on the fritz. Blend in and let's see what Scraw has to say."

* * *

Eve sighed heavily and quietly responded. "Okay." She made her way near the front of the buzzing crowd. Eve couldn't explain it, to say she was scared of this guy would be an understatement. Scraw just seemed to radiate a malicious nature.

Scraw smiled wide, showing his fangs as he basked in the adoring gazes of his followers and new recruits alike. It had been far too long since he had enjoyed such a delightful feeling. After the room quieted down a bit, he finally spoke with a joyous, but raspy voice.

"Well, well, well, and well. Look at all of you, so full of piss and vinegar. It's such a wonderful sight to behold! You see, I know exactly why you are all here. I was once in the exact position most of you have found yourselves in. Sick and tired of seeing your family, your friends, your people, and most of all, yourself, getting walked on by the rest of the world. And don't ya know what the worst thing about it is?"

Scraw deliberately paused, letting the question sink in to everyone's mind. He resumed right as many in the group started murmuring amongst themselves. "You don't have a damned clue what you should do." The statement rang so true, it silenced everyone at once. That made him incredibly happy.

"You're scared, angry, and most of all, you feel… lost. And you feel like it's you against the world with no one on your side."

Eve did her best to keep her emotions locked up. Her eye still twitched angrily under the mask as she struggled to stay in character. 'What a load of crap.' Eve thought as she glanced around at everyone's hopeful faces. 'Still, he has them eating out of the palm of his hand.'

Scraw spread his arms wide. "That's where we come in. The White Fang recognizes our plight. In a dark world where there is no one to turn to, we're a shining beacon of hope, and I can assure you that you've made the right choice in turning to us." His arms dropped to his sides. "Nobody else will help simply because we look different. Humans are just fine with letting things stay as they are. Our fates don't concern them as long as their lives don't change."

His smile turned to a scowl. "And so, we will make their lives change. You see, most of mankind wishes to pretend that monsters don't exist. Such a pity, we will show them that monsters are everywhere… monsters, are real. I'm sure many of you know of what I personally do for our organization, and I'm not gonna lie, it isn't pretty, pleasant, or nice. But it's effective and efficient. You've all seen it. Ever since The White Fang has started going on the offensive, our people have been getting the respect that we deserve."

Scraw glanced over the crowd and saw that nearly every person showed that they agreed in some way. He loved it, using his talent for speaking to get what he wanted. In this case, it's more soldiers for his army. Puppets for him to control and manipulate as he pleased. Something caught his attention though, one soul in particular in the crowd seemed unmoved. A little fox girl that seemed all too familiar.

Chills ran down Eve's spine as she whispered. "He's looking right at me."

Nina and Ben worriedly exchanged glances, and Ben whispered over the radio. "Don't acknowledge it. For some reason, I bet you stand out to him. Give it a moment and he'll move on." He clenched his fists in frustration at not being right there to help her.

'Easy for you to say, this is freaking me out.' Eve thought as she held her breath.

"I see…" Scraw whispered to himself as he gazed a moment longer at the steadfast girl. He finally looked away and continued the speech, much to Eve's relief. "You've all made the first important step in your journey. Join us, and together we will achieve what we've all been longing for!"

At that, the crowd erupted in cheers. Scraw left the stage and the tall man from before bellowed over the cheers. "All new recruits, come forward."

* * *

Ben radioed Eve. "Time to go, use the excitement to cover your exit." She wasted no time complying with the order. Eve wanted nothing to do with this any longer after locking eyes with Scraw. She ducked low and scurried between bodies toward the nearest exit that she could discreetly duck out of.

Ben asked Nina. "Can you see her?"

"No, there are too many people around to pick her out."

He gritted his teeth as he thought. 'Come on Eve, just make it out of there.'

* * *

Eve darted behind some shelving out of sight, and continued toward the door she sent Charlie out of. "Almost there." She whispered as she nearly crawled on all fours to avoid detection. After painstakingly inching to the door, Eve reached out to touch the handle. "Made it." Ben and Nina shared a collective sigh upon hearing that. Right as Eve nearly had the handle turned to open the door, she was frozen in fear by a presence that she felt.

"Hello, Evangeline." Eve whipped around and faced Scraw, who was looming over her. She remained paralyzed as a million thoughts ran through her mind. 'How do you know my name? What do you want? Why can't I move?!'

After hearing Scraw's voice from her transmitter, Ben yelled to Eve. "Get out of there! Run! Get outside!"

A sinister smile spread across Scraw's face. "It's so nice to see you, it's been far too long. Don't you remember me?" Moments ticked by without an answer. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. You were only a child when we last met." He reached out to Eve.

Eve's mind was a flurry of thoughts and emotions. There was a word that was escaping her that she had to remember. A magic word that Eve could say and it would bring Ben and her team charging in to whisk her away from this monster. What was that damned word? Oh yeah, mayday!

"MAaaugh…" She trailed off and went silent as something pricked her arm when Scraw touched her. Eve dropped to the floor in a heap, still conscious, but completely unable to move.

"Come with me, we have much to discuss." Scraw scooped her up and started walking toward the back of the building where he emerged from.

* * *

Ben was frantic. "Can you see them?!"

Nina was nearly having a breakdown. "N-no, I'm trying, I just can't find them!"

Ben growled into the radio. "Tanner, answer me right now!" After no answer came, Nina looked to Ben with tears welling up in her eyes.

"What do we do?"

Ben thought for a moment. 'No, not again. I WILL NOT lose someone else!' He looked toward the warehouse and spoke as calmly as he could. "Eve, if you can hear me, stay strong. Don't give up, and don't give in. I'm on my way. Wait for me."


End file.
